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

From The Huff&Blow Post:

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.

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At least three cars were on the span when it fell into the river. Rescue teams are currently searching the water for survivors.

Several people have been spotted sitting on their submerged cars, waiting for help. First responders have already pulled one man off the roof of his vehicle, prompting nearby eyewitnesses to applaud, The Skagit Valley Herald reported.

There was no immediate word on injuries. Cause of the collapse is unknown at this time.

Drivers are being advised to avoid the area. The freeway has also been closed, Northwest Cable News reported.

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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.

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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Permalink Reply by Petunia Skrebbles on May 24, 2013 at 11:12am

Oh, Bush is like Obama only dumber, he is just a puppet, he is literally on the bottom of the "who has power" pole. His main handler was Cheney but once in a while Daddy Bush would show up and smack him around. LOL Obama's main handler was Rahm Emmanual and after Rahm left, his double took over. So he is fully under control as well. we have not had an independant and supportive president since JFK died and unless we kick these guys behind the curtain out of here we never will.

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Permalink Reply by Klaudio Vinkerlić on May 24, 2013 at 3:51pm

I am, as may be fortuned, not an American. But as Americas world's policy is kind of bullying around the Globe it seriously damages the calm of a normal prosperous living.

As the "Beast" is hiding around there, it is the concern of World's Activists to influence and help the Americas Activists to encourage them. There should be no fear of repression kind of civil war, as the whole World is now aware of the shame the present governing structure is making to the cheek of Americans.

It is the fact that America's society, economy, since beginning, was rising on and with the "Far West saloon" or Qunta Qinte slavery style, on one side, or similar, and on the other side trough work of honest settlers. But, obviously the Bullying has rised in extremes. Now patience and continuous activities, America is only a peace of the World. My support.

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Permalink Reply by AJ on May 24, 2013 at 1:53pm

Some of the BEST tactics for increasing SLUSH FUNDS are 'roads and bridges then public schools, strange how the media immediately reported it was a structural failure due to lack of funds... This bridge was built in 1955, a box trellus bridge is extrememly strong, WHAT did take it down was a semi truck hauling a oversize load that crowded the lane and hit the bridges main support members, right there 60mph is common, truck was hauling steel drilling components, so this was a huge sledge hammer hitting the bridge.... The majority of funds for roads is being taken for mass transit petty projects that are pushed by the sustainable development crowd, there is more than enough funds to maintain the roads, less than 8% of people use the transit system. Here they are spending BILLIONS on a tunnel project that was voted down twice where ground water is at 5-6 feet along a backfilled with various unknown soils and debris for a false waterfront on a salt water tideal exchange. Instead of going above ground and increasing traffic loads they are wasting funds to DECREASE traffic loads and make a dangerous underwater tunel in a EARTHQUAKE ZONE..... Reasons are searched for to increase taxes on the 'crops' of humans they feel they should continually 'prune' to fianance their Utopia...

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Permalink Reply by Petunia Skrebbles on May 25, 2013 at 12:52am

Does everyone see how easy and natural it is to say America is doing this or doing that, rather than saying WHO IS REALLY DOING IT? I ask because unless we all stand up and speak the truth, our solutions will evade us becuase they will be addressing something that will not fix it. The foreign occupiers of America, will never have to take responsibility for what she is doing, but America will. That is the same with hiding behind the curtain of Judeaism instead of saying Khazars, there is no one to hold accountable for "khazars" but Jews can be held accountable for what the khazars do only because the khazars are smart enough to continue the game of deception raised to a degree of fine art. Its never questioned and language is the creator of reality. buying into the game of "perceptions" is how we got here. Our reality is like a major movie production, and we re the actors, while the director stands behind the camera telling everyone what to do. Yet, no one sees the directors face or his work, rather only the results.

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Permalink Reply by Burbia on May 25, 2013 at 2:40am

This also being Memorial Day weekend. Also an event on a smaller scale of the Boston Marathon called Ski to Sea is going on near by. What is referred to as the I-5 corridor, traffic going both ways is backed up as a result of this.