Do You Feel Safe on Our Local Bridges?

Written by Caitlin Moran:

The shocking collapse of the I-5 bridge in Skagit County last week left many people with one question: Are the bridges around me safe?

It's important to note the bridge that collapsed was not among the 391 classified as "structurally deficient" by the Washington State Department of Transportation in 2011. The bridge was, however, designed to be "fracture critical"—meaning the entire structure can fail in the event of serious impact—andofficials have said an extra-tall semi struck the upper part of the bridge just prior to the collapse.

WSDOT marked the Skagit River bridge, which was built in 1955, as "functionally obsolete" in 2011. A step below structurally deficient, functionally obsolete does not refer to a bridge's structural integrity but rather indicates its configuration fails to meet current demands for lane width, shoulder width or "doesn’t have enough vertical clearance for large trucks to pass under, causing repeat hits and damage to the bridge." (No word yet on whether the bridge had been hit by trucks prior to Thursday's incident.)

In Washington, 1,624 out of 7,627 total bridges were deemed functionally obsolete by the Federal Highway Administration in 2009, including 349 in King County. Another 45 of the county's bridges were classified as structurally deficient, meaning a certain component needs repair or replacement. A bridge deemed structurally deficient is not necessarily in danger of collapse,according to WSDOT.

Some of the structurally deficient bridges near Puyallup, as classified by WSDOT, include:

• SR-167 over River Road (prioritized for bridge replacement)
• Puyallup River Bridge (prioritized for bridge replacement)

Members of the SR 167 Completion Coalition urged bipartisan leaders to see the Skagit River Bridge collapse as a wake-up call and take action on a comprehensive transportation package. The bridge package should become more comprehensive to address not only critical projects such as the “Gateways” completion but additional bridge repair, maintenance and preservation as well, the group stated.

Do you feel safe traveling on bridges in Washington state?Tell us in the comments section.