bridge collapse

[BIGNASTY]

Another load that should have been shipped by rail!

Didn't we JUST HAVE A RAIL PROBLEMS SOME PLACE IN THE NORTH EAST???



rail isn't the answer to most of the weird transport requests FAR FROM IT!!!



BOTTOM LINE IS, EVEYTHING HITS THE DECK OF A TRUCK SOMEPLACE.

 

[rscurtis]

Was that bus full of children? Seeing a bus in that condition is about enough to make me queasy... .

There were only four children on board, and they were not seriously injured.

 

[PBJ2500CTD]

Yup. Or another truck driver who should have made sure he had current information.

Here is an excerpt from an on-line article. It seems as though a few inexpensive signs could have prevented the domino of errors from occurring. 2 feet, 7 inch variance; kinda like putting a square peg through a not square hole.

State officials approved Mullen Trucking in Alberta to carry a load as high as
15 feet, 9 inches, according to the permit released by the state. However, the
southbound vertical clearance on the Skagit River bridge is as little as 14
feet, 5 inches, state records show. That lowest clearance is outside of the
bridge's vehicle traveling lanes, Transportation Department communications
director Lars Erickson said Friday. The bridge's curved overhead girders are
higher in the center of the bridge but sweep lower toward a driver's right side.

The bridge has a maximum clearance of about 17 feet, but there is no signage
to indicate how to safely navigate the bridge with a tall load.

At a news conference later Saturday, Hersman said Washington state does not
require signage unless the clearance is 14 feet, 4 inches or less.
The permit specifically describes the route the truck would take, though it
includes a qualification that the state "Does Not Guarantee Height Clearance. "

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130526/DA6GS78G0.html

 

[HBarlow]

Something similar to that but with a fatality if my memory serves happened in TX several years ago. A poor dumb hotshotter with a dually and flatbed trailer hauling a large and tall but not real heavy tank drove under an old railroad bridge overpass in the Houston area and raked the tank off his flatbed. The tank hit and killed a mother in a small suv. According to the news report the driver was following a permitted oversized load route approved for him by TXDOT.

Apparently states grant oversized load permits but include legalese avoiding any responsibility for the load being able to clear the hazards.

 

[Gonzo 1066]

I went over that bridge just a couple of hours before the collapse and will have to drive over it again Monday morning. The bridge could have stood another 50 years IF someone would have been doing his job and NOT hit the damn thing. I dont see where the feds or the state share any responisbility in this accident. The driver suposidly has more than 20 years accident free. Maybe he was distracted, maybe cell phone. Could have been anything. But is is untimatly his fault.

 

[Tractorat]

They said on the radio this morning that the pilot car had a pole that is supposed to hit an overhead if it is too low for the oversized load. The truck driver said he didnt see the pole hit But other drivers say they did see it hit. The truck driver said he didnt even get a radio call from the pilot car that the pole hit the overhead. They say they havent been able to run down the pilot car driver ( I dont know if they mean the news cant find her, or if the DOT cant even find her)

I went over that bridge just a couple of hours before the collapse and will have to drive over it again Monday morning

I have an idea you may not be driving over that bridge on monday morning.

 

[DJW]

Bridges can be very delicate structures. Unsure if its a universal occurrence or act, but when troops etc in column, are marching towards a bridge on their route, they are ordered to, 'Break the Step' before marching over the bridge, and just walk over, then picking up the step when clear of the bridge, something about the rhythm being a problem for the bridge.

 

[DJW]

Bridges can be very delicate structures. Unsure if its a universal occurrence or act, but when troops etc in column, are marching towards a bridge on their route, they are ordered to, 'Break the Step' before marching over the bridge, and just walk over, then picking up the step when clear of the bridge, something about the rhythm being a problem for the bridge.

 

[DJW]

Unsure it popping up twice.

 

[PBJ2500CTD]

My guess the news reporters cannot find the driver. Later, on the night it happened, a video from Chopper 7 showed a view of the pilot truck which had a pole gauge on the right front of the vehicle. Both the pilot truck and semi-truck immediately pulled over when the semi-driver saw the bridge collapse in his rear view mirrors. State Patrol was on scene interviewing the respective drivers while the rest of us were listening to the news "talking-heads" feeding us "what if's" and reports of a couple of men in white "wrapped hats", prayer mats and prayers, and taking pictures of the bridge with huge telephoto lenses on their cameras immediately before and after the bridge collapsed. Go figure...

I went over that bridge just a couple of hours before the collapse and will have to drive over it again Monday morning.

Oooooo... "Gonzo Knievel" - When ya gonna cross? I wanna be there to watch... What is your planned ramp launch speed to make it the 168 feet to the other side? Ya haulin' a trailer. too? Oh, the smoke... the excitement... I can't wait... Yer not gonna charge admission, are ya?

 

[BIGNASTY]

I went over that bridge just a couple of hours before the collapse and will have to drive over it again Monday morning. The bridge could have stood another 50 years IF someone would have been doing his job and NOT hit the damn thing. I dont see where the feds or the state share any responisbility in this accident. The driver suposidly has more than 20 years accident free. Maybe he was distracted, maybe cell phone. Could have been anything. But is is untimatly his fault.

Exactly!!!