No deaths reported in incident on Interstate 5 in Washington state, which threw vehicles and people into Skagit River.
A 2013 infrastructure report card gave the bridge over Skagit River a D-plus overrall grade [AFP]
Part of a four-lane freeway bridge over a river in a rural
area north of Seattle has collapsed, sending vehicles and people into the
water below, authorities say.
The collapse on Thursday on Interstate 5 over the Skagit River
happened at about 7pm local time between the towns of Mount Vernon
and Burlington, 90km north of Seattle in Washington state, Mark
Francis, a patrol spokesman trooper, said.
At least three people were pulled out but there were no reports of
serious injuries or fatalities in the incident, which may have been caused by a
high-sided lorry hitting a bridge span, a spokesman said.
Pictures showed a large mangled section of the bridge collapsed
into the water, with traffic and crowds of people visible on the end nearest
land.
The bridge was built in 1955, according to the website
for the privately run National Bridge Inventory Database.
The American Society of Civil Engineers' 2013 infrastructure report
card gave the country a dismal grade of D-plus overall.
"We are looking at a potential overheight load," Travis
Phelps, a spokesman for the state's transportation department, told
Kiro 7 television.
Interstate 5 and the bridge over the Skagit River are the
main corridor for car traffic between Seattle and Vancouver, Canada.
Residents cautioned
The Skagit County Sheriff's Office, in a statement on
its Facebook page, asked people to avoid the area to make room
for emergency responders.
"Please try to stay off land and cellphones as the
volume of calls has overloaded the system and first responders are
not able to make needed calls due to line overload," the
statement advised residents.
The collapse comes nearly six years after another bridge fell
in Minnesota and raised concerns about faulty infrastructure in the US.
In August 2007, about 305 metres of the I-35W bridge in
Minneapolis collapsed into the Mississippi River during the evening rush
hour. Vehicles plummeted into the water, killing 13 people and injuring
another 145.
In a subsequent investigation of the fatal collapse, the
US National Transportation Safety Board found that more than a
dozen steel support plates - suspected of causing the disaster -
were deficient in size.
It also said that a routine inspection would not
have uncovered the problem.
Thursday's bridge collapse will raise questions about the nation's
infrastructure, which has been a popular issue with President Barack Obama, who
earlier this year sounded a warning on "raggedy" roads
and sought to focus more money on rebuilding to improve the economy.
Source: Agencies