bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Doctrinal Reason Behind Ignorance of WELS Laity":
Oversized load hit top girder of bridge causing its collapse. The driver must have 1) not reviewed the map that showed the bridge height was low for modern interstates, and 2) didn't pay attention to the height pole of the pilot car which must have struck the girder first:
http://www.news4jax.com/news/washington-bridge-collapse/-/475880/20286368/-/item/1/-/1c6w3f/-/index.html
"There was a big puff of dust, and I hit the brakes."
Dale Ogden told CNN affiliate KING that he was driving near the tractor-trailer's pilot car when he saw a device on that car designed to indicate whether a truck can clear an obstacle hit the top of the bridge.
He then watched in his rear-view mirror as the truck struck the bridge, he told KING.
"It almost tipped the truck over but it came back down. It tipped it up to about a 30-degree angle to the left and it came back down on its wheels, and almost instantaneously behind that I saw girders falling in my rear-view mirror," he said.
The tractor-trailer did not go into the water. The driver was questioned but not detained, state police said.
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http://www.news4jax.com/news/washington-bridge-collapse/-/475880/20286368/-/item/1/-/1c6w3f/-/index.html
Sligh's wife, Sally, was the only one of the three who remained hospitalized Friday. She was in stable condition, according to Skagit Valley Hospital.
"Rough day," Dan Sligh told KOMO. "Glad to be here breathing."
'Functionally obsolete'
The bridge had been rated "functionally obsolete," according to a federal database, but state officials said it was safe to drive on.
That category is for bridges that may have narrow lanes or shoulders, or spans that don't provide enough vertical clearance to let tall trucks pass, according to Washington's DOT.
The bridge was inspected as recently as November, said Dave Chesson, a spokesman for the Washington Department of Transportation.
"We wouldn't be having drivers drive on this bridge if we thought there were any concerns whatsoever," he said Friday.
Sligh told KOMO he was traveling south on the interstate behind the tractor-trailer when he realized the load appeared to be about four feet too wide to fit through the bridge's superstructure.
"Any time he wants to go over to the left would be OK," Sligh said he told his wife.
But another tractor-trailer appeared to hem the truck in to the right lane.
"There was a big puff of dust, and I hit the brakes."
Dale Ogden told CNN affiliate KING that he was driving near the tractor-trailer's pilot car when he saw a device on that car designed to indicate whether a truck can clear an obstacle hit the top of the bridge.
He then watched in his rear-view mirror as the truck struck the bridge, he told KING.
"It almost tipped the truck over but it came back down. It tipped it up to about a 30-degree angle to the left and it came back down on its wheels, and almost instantaneously behind that I saw girders falling in my rear-view mirror," he said.
The tractor-trailer did not go into the water. The driver was questioned but not detained, state police said.
Emergency funding
The U.S. Department of Transportation released $1 million in emergency funding for the bridge, Inslee said Friday on Twitter. Inslee said the accident starkly demonstrates the need for additional funding for roads and bridges.
"We have some work to do on our bridges whether or not this accident happened, and we have some discussions in Olympia" -- the state capital -- "about making sure that we make investments in bridges to prevent this kind of thing from happening," he told reporters.
In March, President Barack Obama called on Congress to provide $21 billion for infrastructure construction, including improvements to existing roadways. READ MORE: How safe is that bridge you're driving on?
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/state-patrol-i-5-bridge-over-skagit-river-collapses-in-nw-wash-vehicles-people-in-water/2013/05/23/ef618aaa-c41c-11e2-9642-a56177f1cdf7_story.html
![<p>The Washington State Patrol chief said the I-5 bridge collapse happened after a truck hit an overhead span.</p>]()
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/state-patrol-i-5-bridge-over-skagit-river-collapses-in-nw-wash-vehicles-people-in-water/2013/05/23/ef618aaa-c41c-11e2-9642-a56177f1cdf7_story.html
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — The trucker was hauling a load of drilling equipment when his load bumped against the steel framework over an Interstate 5 bridge. He looked in his rearview mirror and watched in horror as the span collapsed into the water behind him. Two vehicles fell into the icy Skagit River.
Amazingly, nobody was killed. The three people who fell into the water escaped with only minor injuries.
The Interstate 5 Bridge over the Skagit River in Northwestern Washington State collapsed on Thursday evening, dumping vehicles and people into the river. State troopers are not certain if there were any injuries or deaths. Editor’s note: no audio.
Officials are trying to find out whether the spectacular collapse of a bridge on one of the West’s most important roadways was a fluke — or a sign of a bigger problem with thousands of bridges across the U.S.
Authorities focused first on trying to find a temporary span for the Skagit, although it won’t come in time for the tens of thousands of Memorial Day vacationers who would travel between Canada and Seattle.
“You cannot overstate the importance of this corridor to Washington state,” Gov. Jay Inslee said. Traffic on I-5 and surrounding roads was backed up for miles, a situation the governor said would continue indefinitely.
Officials were looking for a temporary, pre-fabricated bridge to replace the 160-foot section that failed, Inslee said Friday. If one is found, it could be in place in weeks. If not, it could be months before a replacement can be built, the governor said.
The spectacular collapse unfolded about 7 p.m. Thursday on the north end of the four-lane bridge near Mount Vernon, about 60 miles north of Seattle and 40 miles south of the Canada border.
“He looked in the mirrors and it just dropped out of sight,” Cynthia Scott, the wife of truck driver William Scott, said from the couple’s home near Spruce Grove, Alberta. “I spoke to him seconds after it happened. He was just horrified.”
The truck driver works for Mullen Trucking in Alberta, the Washington State Patrol said. The tractor-trailer was hauling a housing for drilling equipment southbound when the top right front corner of the load struck several of the bridge’s trusses, the patrol said.
Scott, 41, remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators. He voluntarily gave a blood sample for an alcohol test and was not arrested.
Scott, has been driving truck for 20 years and hauling specialized loads for more than 10.
“He gets safety awards, safety bonuses ... for doing all these checks, for hiring the right pilot cars and pole cars,” his wife said.
Initially, it wasn’t clear if the bridge just gave way on its own. But Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste blamed it on the too-tall load. The vertical clearance from the roadway to the beam is 14.6 feet.
The truck made it off the bridge, but two other vehicles went into the water about 25 feet below as the structure crumbled.
Dan Sligh and his wife were in their pickup heading to a camping trip when he said the bridge before them disappeared in a “big puff of dust.”
“I hit the brakes and we went off,” Sligh told reporters from a hospital.
Bryce Kenning, of Mount Vernon, said the bridge seemed to explode in front of him. The 20-year-old slammed the brakes and could see the edge of the pavement approaching, but there was nothing he could do.
