Thousands of U.S. bridges vulnerable to collapse

[tangent4ronpaul]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57586213/thousands-of-u.s-bridges-vulnerable-to-collapse/

Thousands of bridges around the U.S. may be one freak accident or mistake away from collapse, even if the spans are deemed structurally sound.

The crossings are kept standing by engineering design, not supported with brute strength or redundant protections like their more modern counterparts. Bridge regulators call the more risky spans "fracture critical," meaning that if a single, vital component of the bridge is compromised, it can crumple.

Those vulnerable crossing carry millions of drivers every day. In Boston, a six-lane highway 1A near Logan airport includes a "fracture critical" bridge over Bennington Street. In northern Chicago, an I-90 pass that goes over Ashland Avenue is in the same category. An I-880 bridge over 5th Avenue in Oakland, Calif., is also on the list.

Also in that category is the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River north of Seattle, which collapsed into the water days ago after officials say an oversized truck load clipped the steel truss.

Public officials have focused in recent years on the desperate need for money to repair thousands of bridges deemed structurally deficient, which typically means a major portion of the bridge is in poor condition or worse. But the bridge that collapsed Thursday is not in that deficient category, highlighting another major problem with the nation's infrastructure: Although it's rare, some bridges deemed to be fine structurally can still be crippled if they are struck hard enough in the wrong spot.

"It probably is a bit of a fluke in that sense," said Charles Roeder, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Washington.

While the I-5 truck's cargo suffered only minimal damage, it left chaos in its wake, with two vehicles catapulting off the edge of the broken bridge into the river below. Three people involved escaped with non-life threatening injuries.

Last August, Barry LePatner, author of "Too Big to Fall: America's Failing Infrastructure and the Way Forward," told CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor on "CBS This Morning" that the next bridge disaster was much closer than anyone wants to believe.

"Since 1989," LePatner said, "we've had nearly 600 bridge failures in this country and, while they're not widely publicized ... a large number of bridges in every state are really a danger to the traveling public."

The most famous failure of a fracture critical bridge was the collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis during rush hour on Aug. 1, 2007, killing 13 people and injuring more than 100 others. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the cause of the collapse was an error by the bridge's designers — a gusset plate, a key component of the bridge, was too thin. The plate was only half of the required one-inch thickness.

Because the bridge's key structures lacked redundancy, where if one piece fails, there is another piece to prevent the bridge from falling, when the gusset plate broke, much of the bridge collapsed.

Mark Rosenker, who was chairman of the NTSB during the I-35W bridge investigation, said the board looked into whether other fracture critical bridges were collapsing. They found a few cases, but not many, he said.

"Today, they're still building fracture critical bridges with the belief that they're not going break," Rosenker said.

Fracture critical bridges, like the I-5 span in Washington, are the result of Congress trying to cut corners to save money rather than a lack of engineering know-how, said Barry B. LePatner, a New York real estate attorney and author of "Too Big to Fall: America's Failing Infrastructure and the Way Forward."

About 18,000 fracture critical bridges were built from the mid-1950s through the late 1970s in an effort to complete the nation's interstate highway system, which was launched under President Dwight Eisenhower, LePatner said in an interview. The fracture critical bridge designs were cheaper than bridges designed with redundancy, he said.

Thousands of those bridges remain in use, according to an AP analysis.

"They have been left hanging with little maintenance for four decades now," he said. "There is little political will and less political leadership to commit the tens of billions of dollars needed" to fix them.

There has been little focus or urgency in specifically replacing the older "fracture critical" crossings, in part because there is a massive backlog of bridge repair work for thousands of bridges deemed to be structurally problematic. Washington state Rep. Judy Clibborn, a Democrat who leads the House transportation committee, has been trying to build support for a tax package to pay for major transportation projects in the state. But her plan wouldn't have done anything to revamp the bridge that collapsed.

National bridge records say the I-5 crossing over the Skagit River had a sufficiency rating of 57.4 out of 100 — a score designed to gauge the ability of the bridge to remain in service. To qualify for federal replacement funds, a bridge must have a rating of 50 or below. A bridge must have a sufficiency rating of 80 or below to qualify for federal rehabilitation funding.

Hundreds of bridges in Washington state have worse ratings than the one that collapsed, and many around the country have single-digit ratings.

Clibborn said the Skagit River crossing wasn't even on the radar of lawmakers because state officials have to prioritize by focusing on bridges with serious structural problems that are at higher risk of imminent danger.

Along with being at risk of a fatal impact, the I-5 bridge was deemed to be "functionally obsolete," which essentially means it wasn't built to today's standards. Its shoulders were narrow, and it had low clearance.

There are 66,749 structurally deficient bridges and 84,748 functionally obsolete bridges in the U.S., including Puerto Rico, according to the Federal Highway Administration. That's about a quarter of the 607,000 total bridges nationally. States and cities have been whittling down that backlog, but slowly. In 2002, about 30 percent of bridges fell into one of those two categories.

Spending by states and local government on bridge construction adjusted for inflation has more than doubled since 1998, from $12.3 billion to $28.5 billion last year, according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association. That's an all-time high.

"The needs are so great that even with the growth we've had in the investment level, it's barely moving the needle in terms of moving bridges off these lists," said Alison Premo Black, the association's chief economist.

There is wide recognition at all levels of government that the failure to address aging infrastructure will likely undermine safety and hinder economic growth. But there is no consensus on how to pay for improvements. The federal Highway Trust Fund, which provides construction aid to states, is forecast to go broke next year. The fund gets its revenue primarily from federal gas and diesel taxes. But revenues aren't keeping up because people are driving less and there are more fuel-efficient cars on the road.

Neither Congress nor the White House has shown any willingness to raise federal gas taxes, which haven't been increased since 1993. Many transportation thinkers believe a shift to taxes based on miles traveled by a vehicle is inevitable, but there are privacy concerns and other difficulties that would preclude widespread use of such a system for at least a decade.

Transportation spending got a temporary boost with the economic stimulus funds approved by Congress after President Barack Obama was elected. Of the $27 billion designated for highway projects under the stimulus program, about $3 billion went to bridge projects, Black said.

States are looking for other means to raise money for highway and bridge improvements, including more road tolls, dedicating a portion of sales taxes to transportation and raising state gas taxes. Clibborn, the Washington state lawmaker, has proposed a 10-cent gas hike to help pay for projects, though the effort has been held up by a dispute over how to rebuild the Columbia River bridge connecting Vancouver, Wash., and Portland, Ore.

"We can't possibly do it all in the next 10 years, but we're going to do the first bite of the apple," Clibborn said.

====
There is an upside :D

http://cryptome.org/eyeball/dcbnt/dcbnt-eyeball.htm

-t

[JK/SEA]

Flying cars would solve this problem.

[Anti Federalist]

Flying cars would solve this problem.

Yeah, try getting a federal FAA license these days.

[easycougar]

Good thing we spent that 800 billion in stimulus for infrastructure improvements...

[Anti Federalist]

In fiscal year 2011, DHS was allocated a budget of $98.8 billion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Homeland_Security

$100 billion...

For the tanks to smash into our homes.

For the guns and ammo to shoot us with.

For the surveillance grid to watch our every move.

$3 billion to fix bridges.

[liberty2897]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Homeland_Security

$100 billion...

For the tanks to smash into our homes.

For the guns and ammo to shoot us with.

For the surveillance grid to watch our every move.

$3 billion to fix bridges.

So, that is about $20,000 per bridge that needs repair (referencing this article) and about $100 billion for catching how many evil doers?

[Debbie Downer]

Isn't this old news? There were tons of stories on this when that interstate bridge collapsed in Minnesota in 2007.

[MelissaWV]

Isn't this old news? There were tons of stories on this when that interstate bridge collapsed in Minnesota in 2007.

There are tons of stories on this every time a bridge collapses, an overpass collapses (or cracks, etc.), and so on.

[tangent4ronpaul]

So, that is about $20,000 per bridge that needs repair (referencing this article) and about $100 billion for catching how many evil doers?

So we are spending tons of money chasing people who want to blow up bridges when the bridges are falling down on their own. Makes perfect sense.

If the bridges are that fragile, the terrorists must not be very good :rolleyes:

I've really got to question that $20,000 per bridge figure. Few years ago a semi tapped a overpass pillar around here going about 5 mph. It took them something like 8 months and over a million dollars to fix it. Maybe we got the union rate and $20,000 is just what is should cost to fix a bridge?

-t

[Anti Federalist]

So we are spending tons of money chasing people who want to blow up bridges when the bridges are falling down on their own. Makes perfect sense.

If the bridges are that fragile, the terrorists must not be very good :rolleyes:

I've really got to question that $20,000 per bridge figure. Few years ago a semi tapped a overpass pillar around here going about 5 mph. It took them something like 8 months and over a million dollars to fix it. Maybe we got the union rate and $20,000 is just what is should cost to fix a bridge?

-t

The Brooklyn bridge cost $15 million in 1883.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Brooklyn_Bridge_Postdlf.jpg/280px-Brooklyn_Bridge_Postdlf.jpg

[pcosmar]

Good thing we spent that 800 billion in stimulus for infrastructure improvements...

We got new Electronic Notification signs.

says stuff like
"Click it or ticket"
"Drive slow in ice and snow"
Don't drink and drive"

And other useless shit.

[liberty2897]

I've really got to question that $20,000 per bridge figure. Few years ago a semi tapped a overpass pillar around here going about 5 mph. It took them something like 8 months and over a million dollars to fix it. Maybe we got the union rate and $20,000 is just what is should cost to fix a bridge?

-t

I wasn't suggesting that any bridge could be repaired for $20,000, just what was allocated on average for bridges that need repair/replacment according to the article.

[donnay]

Every time I go over a bridge I pray that this isn't the one that is hanging by a thread. *shudders*

[angelatc]

Also in that category is the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River north of Seattle, which collapsed into the water days ago after officials say an oversized truck load clipped the steel truss.

So it didn't simply collapse - it got hit by a huge freaking semi truck carrying an oversized load. And because of that, all the bridges in the whole country are suddenly teeting on the verge of collapse.

Yeah, ok.

[Anti Federalist]

Every time I go over a bridge I pray that this isn't the one that is hanging by a thread. *shudders*

Pray that it isn't the one to fall down today, as most all are "hanging by a thread".

[angelatc]

We got new Electronic Notification signs.

says stuff like
"Click it or ticket"
"Drive slow in ice and snow"
Don't drink and drive"

And other useless shit.


I almost said "Hey! We got those too!!!!" Then I realized we're in the same state.

Our sign tells us how long it will take us to get the the US 23 / I 96 exchange. 7 minutes.

[pcosmar]

I almost said "Hey! We got those too!!!!" Then I realized we're in the same state.

Our sign tells us how long it will take us to get the the US 23 / I 96 exchange. 7 minutes.

Did you not already know that?
They do not say anything useful here..
The Idea was to give road warnings,, Like the road is closed due to weather.
Except when weather is that bad the signs don't work.. and are not visible anyway.
( I drive in White Out conditions, when I have to)

A huge waste of money,,how "stimulating". :(

[matt0611]

So it didn't simply collapse - it got hit by a huge freaking semi truck carrying an oversized load. And because of that, all the bridges in the whole country are suddenly teeting on the verge of collapse.

Yeah, ok.

Of course, we need to spend..err I mean "invest" money for "infrastructure" improvements ya know? Because obviously they can't find anywhere in their almost $4 trillion dollar budget for maintaining these bridges.

[tangent4ronpaul]

We got new Electronic Notification signs.

says stuff like
"Click it or ticket"
"Drive slow in ice and snow"
Don't drink and drive"

And other useless shit.


I almost said "Hey! We got those too!!!!" Then I realized we're in the same state.

Our sign tells us how long it will take us to get the the US 23 / I 96 exchange. 7 minutes.


Did you not already know that?
They do not say anything useful here..
The Idea was to give road warnings,, Like the road is closed due to weather.
Except when weather is that bad the signs don't work.. and are not visible anyway.
( I drive in White Out conditions, when I have to)

A huge waste of money,,how "stimulating". :(

BE THANKFUL! See post 5:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?382676-Alaska-DOT-construction-signs-hacked-to-read-quot-Impeach-Obama-quot&highlight=sign+hack

These are going to be fun next cycle... :D

-t

[MrTudo]

Yes but we have thousands of troops in over 100 countries to support . Which is more important?

Hahahaha

[Anti Federalist]

BE THANKFUL! See post 5:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?382676-Alaska-DOT-construction-signs-hacked-to-read-quot-Impeach-Obama-quot&highlight=sign+hack

These are going to be fun next cycle... :D

-t

http://i.imgur.com/dnrnMbO.jpg

[Feeding the Abscess]

So it didn't simply collapse - it got hit by a huge freaking semi truck carrying an oversized load. And because of that, all the bridges in the whole country are suddenly teeting on the verge of collapse.

Yeah, ok.

I know! We should bring overseas profits back home, tax it at 5%, and put that money in an infrastructure fund.

[Anti Federalist]

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18mknkkgtivdwjpg/ku-medium.jpg

[CPUd]

http://i.imgur.com/Dj62d26.jpg?1

[ghengis86]

We got new Electronic Notification signs.

says stuff like
"Click it or ticket"
"Drive slow in ice and snow"
Don't drink and drive"

And other useless shit.

Lol.

[CPUd]

Bridges that are out-of-spec have been a problem for a long time. I remember local news doing stories on them in the 90's. Every day I had to drive over a bridge about the size of the one in Seattle, and it had a hole in it (near the edge, not where you drive on) where you could see the water below.

The issue, at least in the smaller towns, is not so much about getting the funding, it is about the logistics of having the bridge closed for months. The really bad ones are not on the main highways, but on the back roads; sometimes there is no reasonable detour. If the work goes over the scheduled deadline, the town is at the mercy of the contractor. I've seen that, too, and it's not a pretty sight.

[donnay]

We should just go back to this...

http://www.discovernewengland.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/1405-20-150x150.jpg



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmAPSJsm-lc

[tangent4ronpaul]

State report shows downed bridge had gouges, impact damage months ago
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/25/state-report-shows-5-bridge-had-gouges-impact-damage-months-ago/

http://global.fncstatic.com/static/managed/img/fn2/video/052413_sb_bridge_640.jpg

Officials in Washington state performed a special inspection six months ago on the Interstate 5 bridge that collapsed because there were indications it had been struck by a different vehicle.

An inspection report released Friday by the state Department of Transportation says inspectors brought in a bucket truck to examine the structure and identified tears, deformations and gouges on the northbound side of the bridge.

In that Nov. 29, 2012, impact, an overheight truck struck a metal overhead truss on the bridge, DOT spokeswoman Broch Bender said. An inspection crew determined the bridge to be safe, with only minor repairs required. She said those minor repairs were added to an existing list of bridge maintenance items to be completed at a future date.

The inspection report also details a variety of other problems with the bridge, including vegetation growing in panels, and rust. It also summarizes a variety of parts on the bridge that have been subjected to "high-load" hits.

A trucker was hauling a load of drilling equipment Thursday evening when his load bumped against the steel framework over the bridge. He looked in his rearview mirror and saw the span collapse into the water behind him.

Two vehicles fell into the chilly river. The three people in those vehicles were not seriously hurt.

As authorities try to find a temporary span, motorists will have to use alternate routes during the holiday and for weeks to come.

"You cannot overstate the importance of this corridor to Washington state," Gov. Jay Inslee said. Traffic on I-5 and surrounding roads was backed up for miles, a situation the governor said would continue indefinitely.

Officials were looking for a temporary, pre-fabricated bridge to replace the 160-foot section that failed, Inslee said Friday. That option could be in place in weeks. Otherwise, it could be months before a replacement can be built, the governor said.

The collapse came on the north end of the four-lane bridge near Mount Vernon, about 60 miles north of Seattle.

"He looked in the mirrors and it just dropped out of sight," Cynthia Scott, the wife of truck driver William Scott, said from the couple's home near Spruce Grove, Alberta. "He was just horrified."

The truck driver works for Mullen Trucking in Alberta, the Washington State Patrol said. The tractor-trailer was hauling a housing for drilling equipment southbound when the top right front corner of the load struck several of the bridge's trusses, the patrol said.

Scott, 41, remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators. He voluntarily gave a blood sample for an alcohol test and was not arrested.

The truck made it off the bridge, but the other two vehicles went into the water about 25 feet below.

Bryce Kenning, of Mount Vernon, said the bridge seemed to explode in front of him. The 20-year-old slammed his brakes, but there was nothing he could do.

"It was like time was frozen -- like a roller coaster where you're not attached to the tracks," Kenning said in a phone interview.

Ed Scherbinski, vice president of Mullen Trucking, said in an interview with The Associated Press that state officials had approved of the company's plan to drive the oversize load along I-5 to Vancouver, Wash.

Mike Allende, a state Department of Transportation spokesman, confirmed the truck had a permit.

"We're still trying to figure out why it hit the bridge," Allende said.

State officials approved the trucking company to carry a load as high as 15 feet, 9 inches, according to the permit released by the state. However, the southbound vertical clearance on the Skagit River bridge is as little as 14 feet, 5 inches, state records show. That lowest clearance is outside of the bridge's vehicle traveling lanes, Transportation Department communications director Lars Erickson said Friday. The bridge's curved overhead girders are higher in the center of the bridge.

The bridge has a maximum clearance of about 17 feet.

The permit specifically describes the route the truck would take, though it includes a qualification that the state "Does Not Guarantee Height Clearance."

It's not rare for trucks to strike bridges in Washington state. The state DOT said there were 21 bridge-strikes involving trucks last year, 24 in 2011 and 14 in 2010.

There are no signs leading up to the Skagit River bridge to warn about its clearance height. State Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson said that under federal and state standards, the clearance is tall enough to not require signage.

Inslee said it will cost $15 million to repair the bridge. The federal government has promised $1 million.

The bridge is used by an average of 71,000 vehicles a day.

A Federal Highway Administration database lists the bridge as "functionally obsolete" -- a category meaning that the design is outdated. But it was not classified as structurally deficient.

-t

[tangent4ronpaul]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Bridge_Inventory

In December 2008, 72,868 bridges in the United States (12.1%) were categorized as "structurally deficient", representing an estimated $48 billion in repairs, and 89,024 (12.2%) were rated "functionally obsolete", representing an estimated $91 billion in replacement costs.[4]

$139 Billion needed to fix or replace bridges...

Wasn't Oh-Bomb-Us going on about the crumbling infrastructure when he was trying to get elected the first time? Yet another FAIL!

-t

[paulbot24]

Who will build the roads bridges????

[bolil]

Alright, this shit pissed me off. The fruit of our labour (some more than others, granted, as I am in bottom brackets) is taken at the point of a gun (the final consequence of not paying our fair share) to maintain infrastructure and provide for the poor. Money taken, ostensibly, to fix bridges and fill potholes OVER HERE is spent blowing up bridges and making potholes over there, and the best answer the MSM dicklickers can come up with is, "not enough taxes."?!?!?!?!?

[tangent4ronpaul]

Highway buckles after rail cars hit overpass
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/world/56365832-68/train-cars-rail-bridge.html.csp

http://www.sltrib.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?STREAMOID=eH5Qd SmOtwA_rV6kO9L$f8$daE2N3K4ZzOUsqbU5sYsDUfAM04RATK1 F8p9SbtGdWCsjLu883Ygn4B49Lvm9bPe2QeMKQdVeZmXF$9l$4 uCZ8QDXhaHEp3rvzXRJFdy0KqPHLoMevcTLo3h8xh70Y6N_U_C ryOsw6FTOdKL_jpQ-&CONTENTTYPE=image/jpeg

Chaffee, Mo. • A highway overpass in southeast Missouri collapsed early Saturday when rail cars slammed into one of the bridge’s pillars after a cargo train collision, authorities said. Seven people were injured, though none seriously.

The bridge collapsed after a Union Pacific train hit the side of a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train at a rail intersection. Derailed rail cars then hit columns supporting the Highway M overpass, causing it to buckle and partially collapse.

The National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation into the cause of the cargo train collision, which happened about 2:30 a.m. near Chaffee, a town of about 3,000 southwest of Cape Girardeau.

Only two vehicles were on the overpass at the time. Five people in the vehicles were taken to Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, as were a Union Pacific train conductor and an engineer. All seven had been released by Saturday afternoon, hospital spokeswoman Felecia Blanton said.

"You’re driving down the road and the next thing you know the bridge is not there. ... It could have been really bad," Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter said.

The crash derailed about two dozen rail cars hauling scrap metal, automobiles and auto parts, tossing them into the overpass’ support columns. The highway was shut down for about 8 miles from Scott City to Chaffee.

The overpass was about 15 years old and in good condition but just couldn’t withstand the impact from the rail cars, Walter said.

Two 40-foot sections of the overpass buckled while two cars were on the roadway, sending the cars into the edges of the collapsed sections. A diesel fire also broke out in one of the locomotives after the collision, but was quickly extinguished, Walter said.

When Blanton heard about the crash, she immediately went online and saw video footage of the scene and was bracing for the worst, Blanton said. She said it was "a real blessing" that the injuries were relatively minor, the most serious being a fracture.

"If you look at the pictures, they’re very dramatic, and there are no serious injuries," she said. "So it’s amazing."

Walter said Deputy Justin Wooten was among the first at the scene and pulled the two Union Pacific employees out of the wrecked engine, which became lodged next to the train’s second engine. That engine began burning after the crash.

"We’re very fortunate he was there," Walter said. He said all seven people injured were already out of the wreckage when he arrived about 15 minutes after the crash was reported.

"People were talking; they were coherent. They understood what was happening," Walter said.

The cars on the overpass "took a really bad hit" when they collided with the bridge sections, but "they stayed on all four tires and they just hit and landed and that was it," he said.

The accident came more than a week after a commuter train derailment in Connecticut that injured 70 people and disrupted service for days. That accident involved a railroad used by tens of thousands of commuters north of New York City.

In Washington state this past week, a bridge collapsed when a truck driver’s load bumped against the steel framework.

NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt said while the investigations into both collapses are in the early stages "there is no similarity" between the Missouri accident and the bridge collapse in Washington, which sent two vehicles and three people falling into the chilly water.

He noted that the Missouri bridge was rated "good" after it was last inspected in February.

"This was not because of any lack of integrity of the bridge in southeast Missouri, but because of a train that derailed and had a bunch of rail cars slamming around, which knocked down a pier, which allowed the bridge to collapse," he said.

"If you just look at the facts, there is no relationship other than some external object caused each of these bridges" to collapse, he added.

The Union Pacific train involved in the collision was carrying primarily automobiles or auto parts from Illinois to Texas, said UP spokeswoman Calli Hite. She said about a dozen UP railcars derailed.

Hite said there was no estimate yet on the amount of damage to the roadway or the rail cars.

BNSF spokesman Andy Williams said about 12 cars on the 75-car BNSF train derailed. The BNSF crew was not hurt.

Sumwalt said NTSB investigation will include routine testing of railroad employees for drugs and alcohol, testing the track and nearby rail signals and reviewing video footage from the front of the train in an effort to determine the likely cause. The NTSB will also review the bridge’s design.

-t

[EBounding]

We got new Electronic Notification signs.

says stuff like
"Click it or ticket"
"Drive slow in ice and snow"
Don't drink and drive"

And other useless shit.


I like, "Don't veer for deer" and "By land or sea drive alcohol free"


:toady:

[tangent4ronpaul]

UPDATE 2-Investigators looking at height clearance in U.S. bridge collapse
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/26/usa-bridge-collapse-idUSL2N0E60FU20130526

(Adds details on collapse and on pilot car)

By Jonathan Kaminsky

May 25 (Reuters) - The oversize load on a semi-trailer truck that struck a Washington state bridge was likely too tall for the lowest point of clearance on the structure, part of which collapsed after the collision, a federal safety official said on Saturday.

Two vehicles behind the truck plunged into the frigid waters of the Skagit River following the collapse of the span of Interstate 5 on Thursday evening between the towns of Mount Vernon and Burlington, about 55 miles (90 km) north of Seattle.

The three occupants of the vehicles were rescued from the river, but activists and federal lawmakers seized on the partial collapse of the steel truss bridge, which was built in 1955, to call for greater investment in the nation's aging infrastructure.

But Washington state officials have said preliminary indications were that the bridge, which was inspected twice last year, was not structurally deficient and the section fell because of the impact from the truck.

The truck was carrying on its flat bed a large steel, box-like structure built to house drilling equipment, a spokesman for the Washington State Patrol said on Friday.

The truck was permitted by the state to carry a load at a height of 15 feet and 9 inches (4.6 metres), but the lowest point of clearance on the bridge was 14 feet and 6 inches (4.1 metres), National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman told a news conference on Saturday.

The truck driver has told investigators he repeatedly measured the height of his load at 15 feet, 9 inches, Hersman said. She said the bridge was elliptical in shape, shorter on the sides than in the middle, where the clearance was higher.

Hersman said NTSB investigators planned to measure the load on a flat surface to confirm its height.

PERMIT RULES

While the Washington state Department of Transportation gave Alberta, Canada-based Mullen Trucking, the company that employs the trucker, a permit to carry an oversize load at a height of 15 feet, 9 inches, the state does not provide operators with the vertical limit of each bridge along a route, Hersman said.

The permit, a copy of which the state Department of Transportation posted on its website, says the proposed route for an oversize load "does not guarantee height clearances." A state regulation also posted on the website makes clear the operator is responsible for ensuring the route "is free of overhead obstructions."

As part of that obligation, the company must send a pilot car through to check clearances along the route, Hersman said.

The driver of a pilot car with a pole measuring at least the height of the oversize load did not radio the trucker to warn about the span, Hersman said.

The truck driver has told investigators that his vehicle and the pilot car were both traveling in the right lane, closer to the shorter side of the bridge, as they crossed the span, she said. At the same time, another commercial vehicle was traveling in the left lane, where the clearance is higher, she said.

The steel structure the truck was carrying was damaged on the top corner nearest the shortest clearance of the bridge, Hersman said.

David Postman, spokesman for Washington state Governor Jay Inslee, said that with the incident still under investigation, it was too soon to assess blame. "The governor has not pointed the finger," Postman said.

Officials with Mullen Trucking could not be reached by phone on Saturday. (Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Peter Cooney)

-t

[tangent4ronpaul]

Five memorable state bridge collapses include two from Peninsula
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20130526/news/305269981/five-memorable-state-bridge-collapses-include-two-from-peninsula

The Skagit River Bridge collapse is quickly gaining its position in Washington state’s bridge folklore.

Traffic snafu aside, it pales in comparison to some others — including two on the North Olympic Peninsula.

Starting with the two Peninsula failures — and not counting the most recent collapse near Mount Vernon — here are five memorable bridge “malfunctions” across Washington state:

Hood Canal Bridge, 1979

On Feb. 13, 1979, wind gusts of up to 120 mph sunk the Jefferson County end of the Hood Canal Bridge, which at that time was just 18 years old.

According to HistoryLink.org, “On the day of the storm, southwest winds aligned exactly with the direction of the canal, and within this huge wind tunnel the bridge was the only resisting solid object.

“Waves 10 to 15 feet high crashed against the bridge for hours, until finally the western floating portion sank, leaving three-quarters of a mile of open water.”

It took three years to re-bridge the North Olympic Peninsula with Kitsap County and points west.

Since then, the original eastern portion has been replaced, and the replacement west end has been widened.

Hoko River Bridge, 1947

On April 22, 1947, F.H. Jarnagin drove his loaded log truck over a rural, wood-decked, steel pony-trussed bridge spanning the Hoko River.

The bridge, located 4 miles west of Sekiu, was posted with a load limit of 5 tons.

Jarnagin’s truck weighed 40 tons, and it and the bridge collapsed into flames, according to HistoryLink.org.

Jarnagin escaped unharmed, but he faced legal action from then-Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney D.E. Harper.

The bridge was built in 1931.

Allen Street Bridge, 1923

Built entirely of wood in 1906, the Allen Street Bridge in Kelso fell into the Cowlitz River on Jan. 3, 1923.

Authorities believe it took the lives of at least 35 people, making it the deadliest bridge collapse in state history.

According to HistoryLink.org, “because of the large number of transients working in the area, an exact figure will never be known.”

Witnesses reported that there were between 100 and 150 people and as many as 20 vehicles crossing the bridge when a suspension cable snapped, quickly downing the supporting towers and sending the entire bridge into the Cowlitz.

Lake Washington Floating Bridge, 1990

There’s a good chance you watched the demise of the Lake Washington Floating Bridge east of Seattle on TV.

It was Nov. 25, 1990, the weekend after Thanksgiving, when a week of high winds and rains did in the he 50-year-old Lacey V. Murrow Bridge, as it was officially named.

The bridge was undergoing a $35.6 million renovation, with workers for Traylor Bros., an Indiana-based construction firm, cutting holes into the hollow concrete pontoons as part of the repair work prior to the Thanksgiving break — holes that were not closed prior to the stormy weekend.

As HistoryLink.org notes, “It is later discovered that hatchways into the concrete pontoon air pockets were left open, allowing water to enter.”

Tacoma Narrows Bridge, 1940

By far the most memorable bridge failure in state history is the collapse of the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge on Nov. 7, 1940.

High winds downed the four-month-old bridge connecting Tacoma and Gig Harbor, which was already known to sway wildly in the right weather conditions.

The collapse came just four months after the bridge was dedicated, and earned the nickname “Galloping Gertie” for the way it rocked.

Despite the fact that it’s now known the world over as a massive engineering failure, the collapse of the original Narrows Bridge claimed only one life — a dog named Tubby.

The replacement opened in 1950 and was joined by a second suspension bridge — the one with the $4 toll — in 2007.

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