Another Interstate Bridge Collapse

[waltky]

Granny says...

... Is all Bush's fault.

 

[Missourian]

Confirmed: The bridge was struck by an oversized load.

[youtube]01wxlztU6Z0[/youtube]​

 

[clevergirl]

A survivor, who was directly behind the truck in question, and actually went down into the river with the section that collapsed, said "the over-sized truck was prevented from moving left due to another semi that came parallel on its left.

The bridge was structurally sound. Its design is not adequate to modern traffic needs.

This is not a tax problem- It's a spending problem i.e. WA state is notorious for throwing good money after bad when it comes to infrastructure spending. There are enough boondoggle projects to support this statement.

 

[Luissa]

A survivor, who was directly behind the truck in question, and actually went down into the river with the section that collapsed, said "the over-sized truck was prevented from moving left due to another semi that came parallel on its left.

The bridge was structurally sound. Its design is not adequate to modern traffic needs.

This is not a tax problem- It's a spending problem i.e. WA state is notorious for throwing good money after bad when it comes to infrastructure spending. There are enough boondoggle projects to support this statement.

Name a few.

 

[Luissa]

Upkeep is still by the State, not the Federal Government.

Actually it isn't

Care to support that position?

Actually, I found the data, and I will admit that I was wrong... 90% wrong. The States are required to pay for 10% of the upkeep.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/intmaint.cfm

So like I said....

 

[CaféAuLait]

Setting the fact aside this bridge was damaged by an oversized semi truck lets look at these facts about our infrastructure spending.

Get ready for a surprise. According to OECD statistics, the United States spends 3.3 percent of its GDP (2006-2011) on infrastructure investment versus the European Union’s 3.1 percent. With roughly equal GDPs, the United States actually outspends the Europe Union – our model of infrastructure perfection.

If we spend as much or more than the European Union on infrastructure, we should have better or equal results. In both the United States and Europe, public investment and procurement are political processes characterized by waste, politics and corruption. If we get less bang per buck from our infrastructure dollar than do our European colleagues, our problem would be not too few dollars but too much waste and corruption.

Infrastructure Gap? Look at the Facts. We Spend More Than Europe - Forbes


Money is spent but waste , corruption and BS politicians are not serving the public as it should.

 

[jon_berzerk]

.
The tax cut culture strikes again!


I-5 bridge collapses over Skagit River; cars in the water | The Today File | Seattle Times


Posted by Brian M. Rosenthal




An Interstate 5 bridge collapsed into the Skagit River on Thursday evening, dumping cars and people into the waters north of Mount Vernon.

Washington State Patrol spokesman Mark Francis wrote on Twitter at 7:19 p.m. that both the northbound and southbound lanes had collapsed in the water.

Francis told the Associated Press he did not know how many people were in the water, whether there were any injuries or what caused the collapse.

Rescue efforts were under way soon after as dozens of people gathered on the shore to watch. A reporter on the scene said he saw a rescue boat take at least one person to shore amid cheers from the spectators.

Photographs of the collapse circulating on Twitter and Facebook showed a wide gap in the bridge and at least two vehicles in the water.

The bridge, built in 1955, was classified by the National Bridge Inventory as “functionally obsolete” in both 2000 and 2010. But the Washington Department of Transportation does not list it among its list of “structurally deficient bridges.”

Traffic around the site was backed up for miles.
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen released a statement saying in part that he encourages “people to follow police instructions and stay away from the site of the collapse to let first responders address the situation safely.”

<snip>


.

shovel ready

wasnt so shovel ready

 

[jon_berzerk]

The bridge was old and should have been fixed already- before the sequester, which merely reduces future spending by a trivial amount.

Is everything that goes wrong going to get blamed on cuts? Obama has had five years to address stuff like this, but has been too busy worrying about other issues, like abortion, birth control and granting amnesty to millions of illegals.

There haven't been any deep cuts. Obama supporters keep trying to claim that he spent less than anyone, so maybe you should direct your complaints to White House website if you really believe his spending less was the cause of this.

you say the prezbo has been to worried about other issues

you forgot to mention his number one issue

campaigning

 

[jon_berzerk]

Old? It was built 60 years ago.

The President has been talking about infrastructure spending since he was a candidate. Who is stopping it?

Yea, 60 years is old for a bridge that has a large volume of traffic. Obama talked about infastructure as a candidate, but what has he done in the last 5 years? Look at all the stimulus money that was supposed to go for stuff like this.

He needs a congress that's not dead set on austerity, and defying Obama.

he was given almost a trillion dollars for stuff like this

 

[Sunshine]

.
The tax cut culture strikes again!


I-5 bridge collapses over Skagit River; cars in the water | The Today File | Seattle Times


Posted by Brian M. Rosenthal




An Interstate 5 bridge collapsed into the Skagit River on Thursday evening, dumping cars and people into the waters north of Mount Vernon.

Washington State Patrol spokesman Mark Francis wrote on Twitter at 7:19 p.m. that both the northbound and southbound lanes had collapsed in the water.

Francis told the Associated Press he did not know how many people were in the water, whether there were any injuries or what caused the collapse.

Rescue efforts were under way soon after as dozens of people gathered on the shore to watch. A reporter on the scene said he saw a rescue boat take at least one person to shore amid cheers from the spectators.

Photographs of the collapse circulating on Twitter and Facebook showed a wide gap in the bridge and at least two vehicles in the water.

The bridge, built in 1955, was classified by the National Bridge Inventory as “functionally obsolete” in both 2000 and 2010. But the Washington Department of Transportation does not list it among its list of “structurally deficient bridges.”

Traffic around the site was backed up for miles.
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen released a statement saying in part that he encourages “people to follow police instructions and stay away from the site of the collapse to let first responders address the situation safely.”

<snip>


.

People in this area learned the value of a bridge when a ship rammed into the Egner's Ferry Bridge taking out two spans. Businesses went under, and people who had only to drive 15 minutes to work found themselves having to drive almost 2 hours one way. We take these things for granted, but a lot of lives get interrupted when something like this happens. Now the lawsuits have started. The state is trying to recoup the damages of having to fix the bridge from the shipping companywho claims the lights were out on the bridge which is why they went under the wrong span. It was a serious mess. The bridge was already slated to be replaced, but money had to be spent to fix it in order to help save the economy of the area because the plans for the new one were just building the new one would not be quick enough.

 

[jon_berzerk]

"I saw it. I was less than 50 feet away from the truck when it hit it," witness Dale Ogden told KING 5. "I had just passed it in the fast lane southbound and it had an oversized load. It was approximately 12 feet wide and over 14 feet tall. It was in the slow lane when I came by...I was behind the flag car and in front of the truck in the other lane and I saw the whip - normally tells you how high they can clear - start hitting the bridge. I looked in my rearview mirror knowing this was not going to turn out well."

I-5 bridge collapses over Skagit River | KING5.com Seattle

Understanding what likely happened here:

^^^ This is a pole car escort vehicle for over height loads.

That driver should be way ahead of the load bearing vehicle.

That pole is set to 3 inches higher than the highest point of the load.

If that pole comes in contact with a wire or structure, or God forbid breaks off...the pole car driver radios truck driver to stop the vehicle.

I've seen it happen quite often that a truck driver leaves insufficient room between the pole car and the truck, and by the time the pole car driver realizes there is a problem, it is already too late.

someone messed up

 

[editec]

More like, if congress could agree on a bill how many bridges could be fixed. The last bill expired in 2009.

Is it the function of the Federal Government to keep State Bridges repaired?

Why aren't the Democrats who control the Government in Washington State being held responsible?

It's not a state bridge. It's part of the interstate highway system.

Yes and the interstate system is maintained BY THE STATES using FEDERAL money in large part and state money in smaller part.

And mostly the work is done by PRIVATE CONTRACTORS hired by the States.

 

[LogikAndReazon]

More state civil servant incompetence.........

 

[Agit8r]

Didn't realize we had so many structural engineers here. Who knew? It's amazing how you all know what caused this before there's been any investigation and while the bodies are still warm. Stay classy as always, folks.

We can use the old catch-all; "man-made disaster"

 

[jknowgood]

Old? It was built 60 years ago.

The President has been talking about infrastructure spending since he was a candidate. Who is stopping it?

Yea, 60 years is old for a bridge that has a large volume of traffic. Obama talked about infastructure as a candidate, but what has he done in the last 5 years? Look at all the stimulus money that was supposed to go for stuff like this.

He needs a congress that's not dead set on austerity, and defying Obama.

Proof again obama is no leader and is a failure as a president.

 

[Wildman]

mulatto muslime Muthafuka pushes $50 million more for Kenya

Strengthening Kenya’s county governments, at cost to U.S. taxpayers of millions of dollars,

Read more at Obama pushes $50 million more for Kenya

i just wonder if that $50,000,000.00 would have repaired the bridge ?

 

[martybegan]

The cause of collapse appears to be a truck impact, not failure during normal usage.

hundreds of thousands of highway bridges and overpasses are probably "functionally obsolete" as the standards change over time.

 

[Missourian]

How much infrastructure spending will it take exactly to keep a truck from colliding with the overhead girder supports...rounded off to the nearest gazillion?

Since the liberals have abandoned this thread as if it was the Titanic, I'll answer this question myself.

How much infrastructure spending would it take exactly to keep a truck from colliding with the overhead girder supports?

Almost enough to make liberals happy.

 

[martybegan]

How much infrastructure spending will it take exactly to keep a truck from colliding with the overhead girder supports...rounded off to the nearest gazillion?

Since the liberals have abandoned this thread as if it was the Titanic, I'll answer this question myself.

How much infrastructure spending would it take exactly to keep a truck from colliding with the overhead girder supports?

Almost enough to make liberals happy.

They left even before we got to the "Yes, government needs to spend on infrastructure, what it doesnt need to spend on is the expanded welfare state" point.

 

[Sunshine]

Imagine how many bridges would eventually collapse, if we had the size government that Republicans insist on!

Let's see if some private company decides to rebuild the bridges for us, with their own money!

Republicans don't believe the government should build and/or maintain bridges? Can you name one who has said that?

Yes, I would like to see that quoted as well.