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The wife of an Edmonton-area truck driver who police say struck part of a bridge in Washington State Thursday evening and caused it to collapse said her husband has an “impeccable” safety record in 20 years on the job.
William Scott, a 41-year-old resident of Spruce Grove, Alta., was at the wheel of a semi-truck carrying a large load of steel when he struck one of the bridge's girders, said Sgt. Kirk Rudeen, of the Washington State Patrol.
Scott made it across the four-lane span but the bridge collapsed behind him, sending the structure tumbling down 15 metres into the Skagit River. Rescuers arrived at the scene within minutes and pulled three people from the frigid water. By late Thursday, officials declared the rescue effort a success.
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 Washington State have a lower sufficiency score.
It is absurd to blame the bridge collapse on a truck driver for accidently hitting a bridge girder.
From what I have read this load had a permit and an escort.
If anyone is at fault, it's whoever issued the permit.
Wife of truck driver in bridge collapse says husband has 'impeccable' record | CTV News
I'm glad that everyone got out okay. I understand that a truck carrying steel could cause a bridge collapse, but this accident points to the issue of aging infrastructure. Our Federal and State governments are so focused on war or cutting back public services that we are now seeing the results.
Are we prepared to have more bridges collapse in the coming decade in exchange for bloated Federal projects, corporate handouts, and endless wars?
Wife of truck driver in bridge collapse says husband has 'impeccable' record | CTV News
I'm glad that everyone got out okay. I understand that a truck carrying steel could cause a bridge collapse, but this accident points to the issue of aging infrastructure. Our Federal and State governments are so focused on war or cutting back public services that we are now seeing the results.
Are we prepared to have more bridges collapse in the coming decade in exchange for bloated Federal projects, corporate handouts, and endless wars?
During my 3 year stay in the US I have to say that infrastructure was in my opinion the biggest thing that had to be addressed by your government. I lived in Portsmouth NH and they had to close down a bridge that connected the town with Maine because it failed an inspection, they ended up having to tear it down and re-build it this was a major bridge as well.
Any bridge ought to be able to withstand loads well in excess of their rated limits for short periods of time. IMO, this bridge was going to collapse very soon, probably that same day, whether that truck struck the girder or not. Think about it...the truck itself wasn't badly damaged, but the strike against the girder caused the whole bridge to come down...shouldn't bridges be FAR stronger than the vehicles travelling over them?
During my 3 year stay in the US I have to say that infrastructure was in my opinion the biggest thing that had to be addressed by your government. I lived in Portsmouth NH and they had to close down a bridge that connected the town with Maine because it failed an inspection, they ended up having to tear it down and re-build it this was a major bridge as well.
The bridge did have a poor rating, but even with a 100% rating, who is to say the same accident wouldn't have done the same thing?Wife of truck driver in bridge collapse says husband has 'impeccable' record | CTV News
I'm glad that everyone got out okay. I understand that a truck carrying steel could cause a bridge collapse, but this accident points to the issue of aging infrastructure. Our Federal and State governments are so focused on war or cutting back public services that we are now seeing the results.
Are we prepared to have more bridges collapse in the coming decade in exchange for bloated Federal projects, corporate handouts, and endless wars?
Infrastructure for the most part is dependent on the State Governments, not the Federal Government unless it's specifically a Federal project.
Bridges are designed to withstand static loads, creep and loads created by the elements. They're not designed to withstand a truck running into a load bearing strut, though nowadays this wouldn't be possible. This bridge was "functionally obsolete" which means that it is not how bridges would be designed today, but was not classified as structurally deficient, meaning that it was still fine as a bridge.
Municipalities and states aren't going to start tearing down bridges that work just because their mode of design is obsolete. I'm sure the people complaining about this not happening would also complain about the construction and billions of dollars spent to replace bridges that are structurally sound.
It sounds like the inspection process worked then.
Even with a load of steel...It is absurd to blame the bridge collapse on a truck driver for accidently hitting a bridge girder.
Especially with the mass of solid steel on that particular truck!Bridges are designed to withstand static loads, creep and loads created by the elements. They're not designed to withstand a truck running into a load bearing strut,
The bridge did have a poor rating, but even with a 100% rating, who is to say the same accident wouldn't have done the same thing?
Actually, an objective review of budgets would show social expenditures as well as the drain of maintaining unsustainable spending at the state level on public employee pensions and benefits has had the greatest impacts on funds available for infrastructure.
The truck had a heavy and oversize load. Taking out a support of a box design bridge is pretty easy to understand from a physics point of view. After reading that the top of the truck hit the top of the bridge, I think I can safely say, this same accident would have had the same results, the day after it was built.It is a fair question, but given that trucks wreck on other bridges without them collapsing, I suspect it was a combination of factors. My city replaced a bridge awhile back that scared the bajeezes out of people, myself included. Some days the bridge shook like crazy. The city kept saying that it was supposed to do that but could never figure out supposedly why that bridge was requiring increased maintenance if it was supposed to be doing that. There were some days you could feel your front tires almost bouncing in the air that bridge shook so bad. I have been on many bridges of different types in my life in many places, including old ones that still had wood planks and I never felt a bridge shake like that one did. A similar bridge downriver to it didn't do it, the replacement bridge doesn't do it. I think we dodged a bullet.
I understand that suitcases full of money, that our government gives our "friends" around the world to remain our paid-for "friends" is probably important to someone, but why build things for them when a lot of our infrastructure is rated in poor shape by engineers. Time is not on our side here. Fortunately no one died in the latest bridge collapse, but our luck cannot hold forever.
Also, water and sewer mains all over the country are ancient, and are failing, causing flooding, plus the necessity for the public to boil water to make it safe to drink. Ridiculous! We are not a backward third world country to put up with this state of affairs. We pay taxes that are supposed to provide for the common good. Safe infrastructure benefits every one of us, and must be made a priority by our leaders. They know the problems with our failing infrastructure...why can't they be proactive instead of always reactive? And when I say proactive, I'm not talking about the hundreds of millions of dollars that is going to be spent on the new train line in California that most people won't even use. :shock:
I don't see how maintaining our infrastructure and developing high speed mass transit are mutually exclusive.
Anytime you're operating a truck and you ram into a stationary object it's 100% your fault.Is anyone blaming the truck driver?
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