I-5 Bridge collapse, Mt. Vernon - Burlington WA

A better option is to change priorities of what government should finance first. It's easy to claim taxes need to be raised, but useless if the money raised gets used for "vote-buying" projects.

I would recommend that instead of citizen groups lobbying for increased taxes for "(put emotional reason here)" they lobby for government regulations requiring proper infrastructure standards for public use......and then address the funding.

 

I remember a older Bridge that started in San Diego but ended in Del Mar, CA was replaced. It was a City of San Diego Bridge but Del Mar asked for responsibility to get the project completed. The Bridge was on a State Road so when it was all said and done, the 2 local cities and Caltrans (CA State Entity) put in Money. I also believe they got some Federal Funds perhaps 30%. Much of it was split among 4 Government entities. However it took a manic and motivated City Politician to get the project started. At one point a Historical activist sued the City to hault the project since the bridge was built around 1913, that took money, lawyers, and delays but it was defeated. Some of the original part of the Bridge was preserved to appease this guy, but it added tremendous cost to the project.

 

This is nothing new to the area...

 

To be fair, that was a new bridge with a faulty design, not an old bridge that was hit by an oversize load.
Washington's REALLY stupid bridge failures have involved sinking floating bridges by leaving the hatches open during storms.

Hood Canal Bridge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

"Galloping Gertie" in 1940 was because of a lack of understanding of the aerodynamics of long suspension bridges, a relatively new field at the time. An unfortunate, yet understandable screw-up.

That an I-5 interstate bridge section could be brought down because of an over width truck hitting part of a bridge of a well understood decades old design isn't excusable.

 

The story made CNN today, heard it on CNN XM radio

 

No truss bridge is completly capable of sustaining a significant hit to it's truss structure by a heavy object with lots of speed (potential energy) the whole point of a truss structure is smaller membranes work together to create a stronger structure than the individual components themselves. The weakness come when you suddenly remove a major component, without reducing the load.

Try taking out a cross web (or several) with the design load on the roof and see how long it stands up.

Icarus

 

Of course, but a competent system design will protect the critical truss members from highly probably mishaps such as a truck's load hanging a few feet outside it's lane. There is lot more to a competent design than individual trusses.

 

The other issue that should be mentioned is the condition of many truckers....low wages, traveling couch potatoes at risk of diabetes, often with sleep deprivation.

 

So who is the incompetent that did not replace these bridges ?

Just bond the replacement and toll to pay it off.

Safety first

 

First,

The trucking company has a stellar record of safety, according to the local Seattle NPR station today .

Second, we all SHOULD realize just how deficient ur critical infrastructure is, and how penny wise and pound foolish our current "austerity" BS is! Not spending to repair and up grade our critical infrastructure doesn't "save us money" even though it may seem so, it costs us, big time! How much fundamental business is lost each HOUR this bridge is down, not to mention the added cost to the thousands involved!

Finally, in defense of State and local DoTs. They have been damned with very limited resources and have to band aid the critically danagerous items as they happen. A bridge such as this that is "functionally obsolete" is a much lower priority than one that is likely to fail very soon. The short term solution is to ban oversized loads from such bridges, and maybe reduce GVW for trucks. When I was driving OTR in the 1970s, total combined GVW was 76,000, now it is 105,000. Makes you wonder if trucking pays it's externalities.

Bottom line, vote for those who are willing to spend money on things like bridges rather than wasteful military junk!

Icarus

 

Who is responsible? The voters who keep voting for "lower taxes" and who "hate the gobmint" (until such times as these, and then they scream,"somebody should have done something!" Morons!

Icarus

 

A Toll is optional. You don't want to pay Don't use the bridge. Taxes you have to pay

 

All you need to do is knock out 1 key strut or cross girder, gravity takes over.
This is not the first bridge to go down, it won't be the last. Sadly!
Like the news report noted, rush hour was over!'
It would be nice if some, or more, of America infrastructure gets inspected, AND repaired/rebuilt!
Forget Bullet Trains, lets fix what we got so we don't have more incidents like this!

 

Not to mention the bridge has been in service since 1955. Traffic has gotten heavier, ALOT HEAVIER, weights have gotten heavier, and it has not been up graded. The bridge isn't ally to blame, merely the fact that it is SOP to rely so heavily on 58 year old bridges that carry way more traffic than they were designed for!

Piss and moan all you wish, but we the electorate (and our willingness to tax ourselves collectively, equitably ) to pay for the civilized society which we expect.

Icarus

 

So were bridge design standards in Washington State not that good in the 1950's?

The Verrazano Bridge in NY was finished in 1964 and the design is still sound. They still collect a toll

 

That reminds me of the old saying "Cynicism is just an ugly way of telling the truth."