Be prepared to take longer to get to where you are going and have to Detour from I -5 when you are in the Burlington, Mount Vernon area as a section of the bridge over the Skagit River has collapsed. It looks like its going to be weeks and maybe longer before it is repaired or replaced. ( I'm pretty sure that a repaired or replacement span will be up well before Rainfurrest comes along though so you shouldn't worry about that. )
News story - http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/i-5-skagit-river-bridge-collapses-people-vehicles-/nX2d5/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter (http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/i-5-skagit-river-bridge-collapses-people-vehicles-/nX2d5/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter)
More photos - http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Photos+Skagit+River+Bridge+collapses/8427926/story.html (http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Photos+Skagit+River+Bridge+collapses/8427926/story.html)
Looks like google maps caught on already, marked it as closed off. Even so far as to remove the road graphics in that section.
Something tells me the people driving the truck and the pilot car won't have a job for too much longer, and it wouldn't surprise me if they end up dealing with a couple of lawsuits. Thankfully nobody died.
: Aeturnus May 24, 2013, 06:23:25 -06:00
Something tells me the people driving the truck and the pilot car won't have a job for too much longer, and it wouldn't surprise me if they end up dealing with a couple of lawsuits. Thankfully nobody died.
if you notice the girders of the bridge, they curve. this reduces the height clearance at the edges. i heard that someone was passing the truck and he couldn't move into the center of the bridge where the clearance is the highest. those height signs are not always accurate.
Was mentioned in the article that another truck was passing the over-sized one just as it was coming up to the bridge. He probably saw the truck coming up at the last minute and didn't have enough time to slow down to let it pass by. Though, I gotta wonder why the other truck was in such a hurry to pass...
Sure... it screwed things up, and probably for a while, but I'm just glad no one got killed or too badly hurt.
: tokar May 24, 2013, 07:11:36 -06:00
if you notice the girders of the bridge, they curve. this reduces the height clearance at the edges. i heard that someone was passing the truck and he couldn't move into the center of the bridge where the clearance is the highest. those height signs are not always accurate.
There is another bridge (the old highway 99 bridge) over the Skagit River a few hundred meters east of the collapsed bridge, so I expect that I-5 traffic will be detoured over that instead. But yes, there will be traffic delays until a new bridge for the I-5 can be built.