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Old 05-23-2013, 10:11 PM   #1
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I-5 Bridge collapse over the Skagit

Geeze, I just heard that the Interstate 5 Bridge over the Skagit River in NW Washington State collapsed with cars and people in the water. What a mess that must be. According to the news here at 11 PM, (8 PM there), it happened about an hour ago. Reports are really incomplete from the local channels, and there's been no special report. Is there much boat traffic there? Any involved?
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Old 05-23-2013, 10:22 PM   #2
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I-5 bridge over Skagit River collapses, cars with people in water | KING5.com Seattle
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Old 05-23-2013, 10:28 PM   #3
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Watching it live- so far, 2 cars in the river, about 5 people injured, no reported fatalities. As there is another bridge just east of the Skagit River Bridge, traffic impact isn't too bad.
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Old 05-23-2013, 11:11 PM   #4
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I have been watching live also-looks like a section of the bridge just pancaked into the river. Only looks like 3-4 cars went in with it. That is pretty busy stretch of I-5, very lucky more cars and people did not go with it.
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Old 05-24-2013, 07:53 AM   #5
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The last report I read said no deaths and 3 injuries. If true, it is a miracle.
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Old 05-24-2013, 08:11 AM   #6
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Q13fox.com is carrying news live broadcast info. Seems a southbound semi clipped the bridge and caused the damage...
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Old 05-24-2013, 08:53 AM   #7
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Pau Hana wrote

"traffic impact isn't too bad."

Yea for you in Seattle. Think again. I-5 reduced to one lane winding around city streets .................... for months!

They should fix the lights so the detour traffic from the freeway won't have to stop. We may be able to make it to our main food store and Starbucks and maybe not. This is right where we spend most of our time "in town".

This is similar to shutting down the I-5 bridge over lake Union. Except the detours would be a lot worse.

I wonder how bad hwy 9 will get?
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Old 05-24-2013, 09:18 AM   #8
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Eric, imagine if there were no auxiliary roads around the Mt Vernon/Burlington area- then I'd agree that chaos would reign supreme. Also, there is the fact that traffic volume that far north is a pittance compared to Seattle. I'm simply looking at the positives vice dwelling on the negatives.

As I have family up that way, I'm always traveling north on 5- and am also affected by the collapse.
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Old 05-24-2013, 10:20 AM   #9
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Q13fox.com is carrying news live broadcast info. Seems a southbound semi clipped the bridge and caused the damage...
Purely from an engineering standpoint that is completely unacceptable without multiple "dropped balls" along the way. Bridges are designed to be impacted by trucks.
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Old 05-24-2013, 10:29 AM   #10
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Pau Hana,
My words were not an attack. I see it did come off that way but I think it's going to be a big problem in the Mt Vernon - Burlington area. In the immediate area there will be only one handy option and that option will be jammed w freeway vehicles.

I assume the detour will be College Way, Burlington Blvd and Hooper rd back to the freeway. The freeway off and on ramps are one lane. But the detour will include both north and southbound traffic. All those trucks bound for Canada are going to be a problem. It will just about isolate a significant area w large stores and months of this will definitely be a very big impact on many stores.

Craig wrote " Bridges are designed to be impacted by trucks."
Hmmmmm .... this one didn't seem to know that.

But the course of action for a fix may not be as obvious as I think ... but I see no options except a temporary bridge and that would take time to build too. Not good!
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Old 05-24-2013, 10:39 AM   #11
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Purely from an engineering standpoint that is completely unacceptable without multiple "dropped balls" along the way. Bridges are designed to be impacted by trucks.
Likely not. It was an old 50's vintage truss bridge.
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Old 05-24-2013, 11:06 AM   #12
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Luckily there is a 4 lane bridge about ¼ from the I-5 bridge and the river sort of divides the town in ½. What might have also affected are the rivers are close to flooding as there is a lot of rain and snow coming down the rivers with some large log size debris and moves very swiftly at low tides. Plus as mentioned it a 50 year old bridge.
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Old 05-24-2013, 11:31 AM   #13
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MOUNT VERNON — The Washington Transportation Department has posted a detour around the collapsed Interstate 5 over the Skagit River - but urges drivers to avoid the area if possible.

Read more here: MOUNT VERNON: DOT has posted detours around collapsed I-5 bridge | Skagit Bridge Collapse | The Bellingham Herald
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Old 05-25-2013, 12:33 PM   #14
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It was an interesting two days commuting to work around the downed four lane I-5 freeway bridge that we have all grown to count on. Now we're relegated to a choice between three small bridges, two city bridges and one rural. Fortunately for us locals we know the back roads and access that gets you close to the small bridges, so you don't have to wait in line for long periods. There are two more bridge crossings up river near Sedro Woolley and Concrete, but not worth the extra driving.

Keep in mind 70,000 plus vehicles crossed that bridge every day, many were tractor trailer rigs, which are now down on the surface streets negotiating tight turns and traffic lights.

It was no problem at 0600 going to work, but the return trip at 1700 was interesting. The best solution was not to follow the WSDOT detour routes as that was what everybody else traveling I-5 was doing and ended up in mass traffic jams. I feel sorry for the out of area folks and tourists who don't have the local knowledge. They have little choice if they don't know their way around. I only had about 10 - 15 minutes extra commute coming home to get across the Skagit River bottle neck.

Hopefully, WSDOT will have a temporary span up for the short term.
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Old 05-25-2013, 01:51 PM   #15
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Hi Larry B,

I went to Mt Vernon yesterday and Burl Blvd was BAD. Took me 45 min to run it's length. I checked the internet for the advised detour routs this morning and they recommended basically all the likely routs to take so local knowledge may be of no benefit now or soon. Dosn't seem to be an official route. They just show alternates. Everybody's going to be everywhere. Hwy 9 northbound was very heavy last night. I got tired of the traffic and went over the hills on Old Day Creek rd and east on So Skagit Valley Hwy. No traffic but it still took me 1.5 hrs to get home.

I think this is going to have a very serious impact on local business. The stores I went into were basically empty. Even Starbucks was quite slow. Nobody wants to go there now.

A bridge out on POW island where we were would be even worse. In many places there would be NO options other than a boat or plane. Here the options are just poor.
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Old 05-25-2013, 02:33 PM   #16
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Yes, you have to stay off the main north - south routes that DOT is routing traffic to and consider the time of day.
DOT is routing traffic from north I-5 up Fir Island road and Best Road at Conway and College Way to Riverside Dr. North of Burlington, so stay away from there, use the East - West side streets.

Coming north from Conway take the Anderson Rd exit and North on old 99 into South Mount Vernon. The Frontage road will get you to Blackburn overpass and up on the hill to La Venture which goes out Francis / Swan Road to Day Creek Rd at Clearlake.

I go further up old 99 which becomes South 2nd street, Two blocks North of the Mt Vernon Post office turn left up onto the river reventment continue North in the parking lot along the Skagit River. There is a little known underpass from the parking lot that goes under the bridge and gives you access to a free turn onto the bridge Memorial Hwy to go west. From there you can go West to Anacortes-Laconner or turn north at Avon Allen Road to SR20 to I-5. Zero traffic through south Mt Vernon yesterday at 1700 using that route.
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Old 05-26-2013, 07:39 PM   #17
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Purely from an engineering standpoint that is completely unacceptable without multiple "dropped balls" along the way. Bridges are designed to be impacted by trucks.
Actually there are thousands of fracture critical bridges just like this one in the US.

The 1,111-foot steel-and-concrete bridge, built in 1955, is listed by the National Bridge Inventory as "fracture critical," which means that the entire structure can be brought down if even one major part fails, the Seattle Times reported.

Also:In 2012, the Federal Highway Administration said 67,000 — 11% — of the nation's 607,000 bridges were structurally deficient.

Source:Bridge collapse shines light on aging infrastructure


Happy driving this weekend!
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Old 05-26-2013, 10:40 PM   #18
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We should cut the military budget and fix our infrastructure.
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Old 05-26-2013, 10:51 PM   #19
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We should cut the military budget and fix our infrastructure.
Keep dreaming, though it sounds good. Won't happen in our lifetimes as long as commies and terrorists are around. And that's fine with me. Too many enemies out there.
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Old 05-26-2013, 11:11 PM   #20
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I am with Eric on this one to a point. Transferring some Military budget to take care of our infrastructure is long overdue. Yes we need to take care of military matters, but not so much that we let our own needs slip.

Of course, no easy answer.
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