I-5 Bridge Collapse Over Skagit River in Washington Sends Cars, People Into Water - ABC News Does this change commute and so forth for any of our Locals?
I'll be curious to see how much it costs to repair and how long it will take. They want 3.5 to 4 BILLION to replace the I-5 bridge between Washington and Oregon (530'). The I-35W Mississippi River bridge (officially known as Bridge 9340) that collapsed in 2007 took a year and $250 Million (456').
Right before Memorial weekend traffic to boot. My brother drives this every day for his commute from Mt Vernon to his practice in Bellingham. He is not pleased.
Well, get used to this. This is the second bridge to fail in the past few years. As long as we have "joke" leadership in the white house giving away billions in foreign aid to our enemies (i.e. Pakistan, et. al.) we can expect our infrastructure to continue to collapse!
It's my understanding that a temp bridge span is in the works. Beyond Red Tape - What is the timetable and logistics for *this*. What's transpired in terms of the driver & company? via rubber ducky
Unfortunately, it's a long running joke. Here's the American Society of Civil Engineers infrastructure report card from 1998: http://www.asce.org/uploadedFiles/Infrastructure/Report_Card/adam1.pdf The current report card is here: 2013 ReportCard on America's Infrastructure Interestingly, you should have chosen "levees" as the infrastructure to support what I perceive to be your agenda. Bridges actually received a better grade in 2013 than they did in 2009. The sad fact is that the amount of money required for infrastructure investment, see the 2013 report card, is $3.6 Trillion which is less than the current estimated long term cost of the Iraq war. If you haven't done the math, the total US foreign aid budget is approximately 1% of that.
This should be in P&R, but just for the record, sport, if you watch the second inaugural address, you'll see that BHO said we needed to rebuild our failing bridges and other infrastructure. Congress refuses to appropriate the money. Look to the majority in the house of representatives to get the money for bridges appropriated. They refuse. The president can't give away money that isn't appropriated by Congress, but I guess you missed high school civics. And as long as we're talking about personal responsibility, why don't you pony up for a subscription, like the rest of us? Moderator, please move all of these politically-related comments, or, better yet, just delete them.
I had to travel up to Bellingham from Seattle the day after the bridge collapsed - it only added about 15 minutes to my time going up, and maybe 20 to 25 minutes going back to Seattle. One should note however that the cause of the collapse, while still being investigated, is not simply due to "failing infrastructure," but in part to the fact that the load the truck was carrying slammed into the overhead structure and girders while doing at least 50 MPH.
This happened right near my shop. I'm trying to decide if its a good or bad thing. I often cross, or I should say, crossed that bridge commuting home. Traffic is wretched, the good news is that the majority of it is re-directed right past my store. So the car count is great, but no one wants to stop and get out of their place in line! In all seriousness, I think twice about all the bridges up there now when I drive over them. And its been a pain, but no other option besides just going with it and making the best out of a bad situation. Jon
BHO should just sign another executive order like he does with any other issue he is "passionate" about.
It took you three weeks to get around to it and I began to feel neglected, even after all the nice things I said about your Tesla. Glad to see you still love me, Kai. As you saw, I even asked for MY post to be deleted. I'd hoped they'd all be gone by now and that my comment to the prior poster, like his comment, would have vaporized. The trouble is, if someone didn't speak up, all of the forums would gradually decay into P&R clones and a lot of people (not just me) would visit less. Silence on boards like this equates to assent. As for RCM360's post, an executive order can't do a thing regarding infrastructure.
LOOOONG time getting here today. I came in around 1pm today and found traffic to be backed up almost twice as far as normal. Just been that kind of day.
Supposed to open on Wednesday the 19th. Reduced speed of 40 mph due to reduced lane width. Fast work!
Who ever thought our state employees could get anything done quickly. Not only did they get on the problem quick but they actually solved the problem with blinding speed. My hats off to the WSDOT people and to the construction guys that did the job. These folks rock !!!!!!!!!!! Now my question is why don't this same team of super hero's take over Maginn's mess on Mercer, kick some ass and get that job done in record time. These city idiots have yet another year to do a few weeks work. With this major bottleneck an ongoing problem, why not work 24-7 and get it done instead of the slow paced irritating mess they have continued to slog in. I guess Maginn has his lackies painting stripes on our roads for more bike lanes and less lanes for cars. Now last I looked car and gas taxes pay for roads yet we are getting less and less bang for our buck, to say nothing of the lack of maintenence of our streets. I guess its more improtant to spend money on painting bike lanes and no fix pot holes and pavement cracks. Maginn must think there are more votes in the bike community. I think the city should be paying for evey car in Seattle to get an alignment yearly. just sayin' Howard Musolf 1981 308 gtsi 1982 400i cabriolet 1994 348 spider
I believe it was a private construction company that did the actual work. Probably a few incentives to get it done on time. Federal money is covering the majority of the work so the state is just 'managing' things.
I-5 Skagit River bridge reopens less than 4 weeks after collapse | Local & Regional | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News Comments Section has some other interesting details. From the article; Workers with the state Department of Transportation and contractors rushed work on the temporary span to relieve drivers who lined up to detour through Mount Vernon and Burlington. The bridge carries 71,000 vehicles a day. Those vehicles are back on the freeway, but they'll be slowed at the bridge where the speed is reduced to 40 mph because of narrow lanes on the 160-foot temporary section. It carries two 11-foot lanes in each direction. Oversized and overweight loads will still be detoured. The temporary bridge pieces were supplied by Acrow Bridge through an emergency contract the Transportation Department signed with Atkinson Construction. The Max Kuney construction company of Spokane was selected Tuesday for a permanent replacement this fall. The temporary span and replacement cost nearly $18 million. The federal Transportation Department is paying for all but about $1 million of the work. Despite all the work, the 58-year-old bridge is still rated as "functionally obsolete" because it was not designed to handle today's traffic volume and big trucks. It's also "fracture critical," meaning that if a single, vital component is compromised, the bridge can crumple again.
