I-5 Bridge Collapse
 

Would suck to be the driver. Know your load dimensions.
I-5 bridge collapse caused by truck hitting span

Odd, sounds like he got all the way to the end before he hit a beam. Maybe they have the story wrong and mean that he got to the next section as the first section was going down.

I believe the bridge clearance was marked 14 feet 7 inches, which would require an over dimension permit, which would require that the driver and shipping company know what the load height was.

So glad that nobody was hurt.

From what the news media was saying, there was NO posted bridge height. Further, the company had all required permits for that route with that specific load. Besides he also had a pace car in front leading the way. they said as he was going across he watched, in his mirrors, as the bridge tumbled. The bridge was old, built in the 50's, and supposidley he caught the right front corner of the trailer on a top beam, I guess the top coned, and that brought the bridge down. I feel for the driver who will be crusified(sp?) for this. Appears there is lots of blame to go around, and I am not speaking of the driver. Unfortunately he was the one who struck a portion of the bridge with enough force to bring it down. I tend to believe that it was ready to come down and he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I dont see how striking one or even 2 overhead beams would bring down a bridge, unless it was not safe to begin with. Just my thoughts.

I totally agree, one small hit should not bring down a bridge

If it just takes a little tap by a truck to bring down a bridge, something is wrong. I saw a photo of the truck that was supposed to have hit the bridge. There is little damage to the truck. If the truck was actually responsible for bringing down the bridge, I think that there would have been much more damage to the truck or it's cargo.

Could this be just a matter of needing a scape goat? And the truck was unlucky enough to have made himself vulnrable, in the wrong place at the wrong time going the wrong thing? We all know that a truck is always a great scapegoat for any accident. No one will ask questions.

just see on news another bridge collapsed ,this time a overbridge at Chaffee Missouri.a burlington northern sante fe train hit a union pacific train and caused overbridge to break

Menehune, the bridge was old indeed. This means that it was probably not built to today's standards where redundant systems are the name of the game. What that all means is that if one piece fails, the bridge comes tumbling down whereas a bridge with redundancy built in means it would take more than 1 single beam to fail for the bridge to collapse. Poor design but back then that wasn't a normal thought, building redundancy into the bridge.

Mitch, yes another bridge came down in Missouri but this was due to a train collision. 2 trains met at a switchover it sounded like and one of the cars ended up taking out a bridge support pillar. Guess one of the trains was off schedule or hadn't reset their watch. With how trains are constantly being stopped or slowed down to keep on schedule and spacing it's a wonder how 2 could meet like that.

Quite the deal. You read about a bridge collapsing in Minnesota and don't give it a lot of thought, because you have never driven across that particular structure. A friend calls and asks "What you do think about that bridge in Washington falling into the river?" and you go "Huh? What the heck are you mumbling about?"..........

I have probably crossed that bridge 300 to 350 times....loaded....and empty, as well as numerous personal trips. I have seen the river brushing the underside of the deck numerous times during spring flooding. Can not imagine being there when a section of the deck drops into the water.

Scoe must be getting nervous.....driving around the Portland area!! Plenty of bridges to fall down in that area!!