A portion of the Interstate 5 bridge in the US State of Washington was submerged in water after it collapsed into the Skagit River north of Seattle on Thursday, May 23, 2013.<\/p>\n
A major US bridge in the northwestern Washington State has collapsed, dumping vehicles and people into the river below as three wounded folks were pulled out of the chilly waterway.\n<\/p>\n
Authorities said the Thursday evening collapse of the heavily travelled Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River north of city of Seattle did not appear to involve any fatalities.\n<\/p>\n
The incident, however, prompted questions about the safety of the aging structure and the interruption of the key route between the major US city and Canada.\n<\/p>\n
A man and a woman were reportedly in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries at an area hospital while another man was also reported in stable condition at a different hospital, located near the collapsed bridge.\n<\/p>\n
Survivors Dan Sligh and his wife said they were driving their pickup truck when the bridge disappeared before them in a “big puff of dust.”\n<\/p>\n
State authorities emphasized that traffic along the heavily-travelled route may be seriously affected for a considerable period.\n<\/p>\n
“The I-5 corridor is totally disrupted,” said Washington Governor Jay Inslee, who visited the scene Thursday night.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
He added that efforts to design a detour around the site has already started, but state Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson asked people to avoid I-5 in the area for the next several days.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, it was not yet clear what caused the bridge collapse, but according to press reports, State Patrol detectives and the patrol’s commercial vehicle enforcement bureau troopers were speaking to a commercial truck driver whose rig was believed to have struck the bridge.\n<\/p>\n
Although the bridge is not considered structurally deficient, it is listed as being “functionally obsolete” – a category that means its design is outdated, such as having narrow shoulders and low clearance underneath, according to a database compiled by the Federal Highway Administration.\n<\/p>\n
The bridge was built in 1955 and has a sufficiency rating of 57.4 out of 100, according to federal records. However, 759 bridges in the state have an even lower sufficiency score.\n<\/p>\n
Washington State, according to local press reports, was given a C grade in the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2013 infrastructure report card and a C- for the state’s bridges.\n<\/p>\n
The group further said more than a quarter of Washington’s 7,840 bridges are considered structurally deficient of functionally obsolete.\n<\/p>\n
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