Skagit River Bridge Collapse: Interstate 5 Span In Washington State Crumbles Into The Water (VIDEO/PHOTOS)

The Interstate 5 Bridge over the Skagit River in Washington state collapsed around 7 p.m. on Thursday, dumping cars and people into the water, KIRO-TV reported.

According to the Trooper Mark Francis, public information officer for the Washington State Patrol, both north and southbound lanes of the interstate were affected.

At least two vehicles were on the span when it fell into the river. Rescue teams quickly arrived on the scene to save victims from the chilly waters. When first responders pulled the first victim off the roof of his vehicle, nearby eyewitnesses applauded, The Skagit Valley Herald reported.

Authorities said nobody was killed in the incident, but three people were injured and taken to area hospitals.

Cause of the collapse is unknown at this time. According to The Associated Press, police are speaking with a commercial truck driver whose rig may have hit the bridge.

The 1,111-ft. Skagit River Bridge is located between Burlington and Mt. Vernon, about 60 miles north of Seattle. Built in 1955, BridgeHunter.com notes that the four-lane structure sees an average daily traffic of about 71,000 vehicles.

Bart Treece with the Washington State Department of Transportation told KOMO News that he was unsure when the bridge was last inspected.

"All of our bridges in the area are pretty old," he said.

One in nine of the nation's bridges has been rated as structurally deficient, the American Society of Civil Engineers 2013 Report Card for America's Infrastructure reported. The Seattle chapter of the ASCE awarded the state's bridges a C- grade.

The Federal Highway Administration estimates that it would cost $20.5 billion a year to eliminate the country's bridge deficient backlog by 2028.

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MOUNT VERNON, Wash. ? An Interstate 5 bridge over a river collapsed north of Seattle Thursday evening, dumping two vehicles into the water and sparking a rescue effort by boats and divers who pulled three injured people from the chilly waterway.

Authorities said it appeared nobody was killed in the bridge failure that raised the question about the safety of aging spans and cut off the main route between Seattle and Canada.

"We don't think anyone else went into the water," said Marcus Deyerin, a spokesman for the Northwest Washington Incident Management Team. "At this point we're optimistic."

A man and a woman were reported in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries in the emergency room at Skagit Valley Hospital, hospital spokeswoman Kari Ranten said. Another man was reported in stable condition at United General Hospital in Sedro-Woolley, hospital CEO Greg Reed said. He said he didn't know whether the man would be admitted.

Traffic along the heavily-travelled route could be impacted for some time.

"The I-5 corridor is totally disrupted," said Gov. Jay Inslee, who went to the scene Thursday night.

He said work has already started to design detour, but state Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson asked people to avoid I-5 in the area for the next several days.

Washington State Trooper Mark Francis said a portion of the four-lane bridge over the Skagit River collapsed about 7 p.m.

Jeremiah Thomas, a volunteer firefighter, said he was driving nearby when he caught something out of the side of his eye and turned to look.

"The bridge just went down, it crashed through the water," he said. "It was really surreal."

It was not known what caused the collapse of the bridge about 60 miles north of Seattle in Skagit County, but State Patrol detectives and the patrol's commercial vehicle enforcement bureau troopers were talking late Thursday night to a commercial truck driver whose rig was believed to have struck the bridge.

"It appears the commercial vehicle made contact with the bridge," Francis said. "Whether it was the cause" of the collapse or made contact as the bridge was falling "that will all come out in the wash. But it appears it hit the bridge."

The four-lane bridge was about 50 feet above the water. Deyerin said it appeared that two vehicles - a car and a pickup with the travel trailer attached - fell into the river. He said the water depth was about 15 feet, and that the vehicles were half-visible in the water likely are resting on portions of the collapsed bridge.

Crowds of people lined the river to watch the scene unfold.

"It's not something you see every day," said Jimmy O'Connor, the owner of two local pizza restaurants who was driving on another bridge parallel to the one that collapsed. "People were starting to crawl out of their cars."

He said he and his girlfriend were about 400 yards away on the Burlington Bridge when they heard "just a loud bang."

"Then we looked over and saw the bridge was down in the water," he said.

He pulled over and saw three vehicles in the water, including a camping trailer that landed upside-down, he said.

The bridge is not considered structurally deficient but is listed as being "functionally obsolete" - a category meaning that the design is outdated, such as having narrow shoulders and low clearance underneath, according to a database compiled by the Federal Highway Administration.

The bridge was built in 1955 and has a sufficiency rating of 57.4 out of 100, according to federal records. That is well below the statewide average rating of 80, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data, but 759 bridges in the state have a lower sufficiency score.

According to a 2012 Skagit County Public Works Department report, 42 of the county's 108 bridges are 50 years or older. The document says eight of the bridges are more than 70 years old and two are over 80.

Washington state was given a C in the American Society of Civil Engineers' 2013 infrastructure report card and a C- when it came to the state's bridges. The group said more than a quarter of Washington's 7,840 bridges are considered structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.

Democratic Rep. Judy Clibborn, who leads the transportation committee in the state House, said the bridge wasn't one that has been a focus for lawmakers.

"It is shocking that I-5 would have something happen like this," she said.

Clibborn said the collapse will call attention to the issues facing bridges ? especially the old bridge over the Columbia River that connects Vancouver and Portland, Ore.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/23/skagit-river-bridge-collapses_n_3329496.html

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