I-5 Bridge Collapes in Washington State over Skagit River

[Atomic Wanderer Chicken]

Interstate 5 bridge collapsed over Skagit River in Washington state dumping cars and trucks in to the water. There were no immediate reports of how many people were in the water or deaths or injuries.

Heres a link to the local news there

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Report-I-5-bridge-collapses-over-Skagit-River-cars-in-water-208758631.html?hpt=hp_t3

Heres a link to USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/23/washington-skagit-river-bridge-collapse/2356801/?csp=fbfanpage

[+Neowin User 007 Subscriber²]

Is anyone really surprised about this? I remember reading a report about the barely passed grade that most of Louisiana's MAIN bridges are in.

We've got politicians that soak up an ungodly amount of money but we can't fix the roads and infrastructure here in this country. People are going to pay for with their lives over and over again...

[The Evil Overlord]

Is anyone really surprised about this? I remember reading a report about the barely passed grade that most of Louisiana's MAIN bridges are in.

We've got politicians that soak up an ungodly amount of money but we can't fix the roads and infrastructure here in this country. People are going to pay for with their lives over and over again...

Loss of life outside of natural causes is a terrible thing regardless, I'm sorry you feel the way you do, but why not simply confront those politicians? they need you more....

[thomastmc]

Is anyone really surprised about this? I remember reading a report about the barely passed grade that most of Louisiana's MAIN bridges are in.

We've got politicians that soak up an ungodly amount of money but we can't fix the roads and infrastructure here in this country. People are going to pay for with their lives over and over again...

This is an issue that's absolutely going to become more and more common. It's as inevitable and as gradual as ice melting outside on a hot day.

Many of California?s bridges are hitting their design life limit.

?There are about 2,000 bridges that are labeled structurally deficient,? said Exponent Senior Managing Engineer Vijay Saraf. ?A lot of our infrastructure was built in the ?40s and ?50s, so its life cycle is coming to an end,? explained Saraf.

http://transportationca.com/funding-shortage-leaves-structurally-deficient-bridges-without-repairs/

Loss of life outside of natural causes is a terrible thing regardless, I'm sorry you feel the way you do, but why not simply confront those politicians? they need you more....

Easier said than done... Ask the Newtown and Aurora families. As much as 90% of the American public supported background checks for new firearms purchases, and many of those families confronted the politicians face to face before their vote.

[Melfster]

Why does everyone think this was bad bridge? I think we shouldn't to rush judgement. I realize its an old bridge but a truck could have hit the bridge and caused failure.

[thomastmc]

Why does everyone think this was bad bridge? I think we shouldn't to rush judgement. I realize its an old bridge but a truck could have hit the bridge and caused failure.

Whether or not this was a symptom of the problem, the problem is real, and this will be the result.

Whether it was or was not a bad bridge, with the fact that so many bridges in this country that are used everyday are known to be "bad", this should at least be a wake up call to the fact that this is what we will be seeing more and more frequently unless we repair and update our infrastructure.

[+Neowin User 007 Subscriber²]

Loss of life outside of natural causes is a terrible thing regardless, I'm sorry you feel the way you do, but why not simply confront those politicians? they need you more....

Loss of life is terrible, I agree.

I read my email alert and thought to my self, he's not from around here; sure enough I hop on and you're from the UK! :woot: The politicians don't need us anymore than they need a vote to do anything. They USED to work for the people, now we work for them. You can't even TALK to a politician without going through hoops to get a "maybe" towards a meeting. You have to be a lobbyist with a LOT of money to talk directly to them (lobbyist = legal bribing of course).

In America, you once could live Tax free, you can't do that anymore. You could be born and never hold a job, never buy anything or any property and still go to jail for not filing for taxes and not paying taxes.

If you don't like a restaurant you stop paying to go there - they shut down. If you don't like a politician and you stopped paying your taxes to make sure they get the point, well, you go to jail. I own a small business, I've gone a few rounds with the lovely government in this country.

Why does everyone think this was bad bridge? I think we shouldn't to rush judgement. I realize its an old bridge but a truck could have hit the bridge and caused failure.

I haven't seen very many trucks driving down the river :D . The bridge has a clean break on both sides and caves inward which means more than likely a pillar gave in at the center point.

MANY bridges in this country are beyond the point of safe, they are continually used regardless.

EDIT: For louisiana...

Roads, F.

Bridges, D-.

Safety, F.

Funding, D

Congestion, C.

http://www.drivinglouisianaforward.org/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp=detail&articleID=9&catID=2

[Xilo]

As much as 90% of the American public supported background checks for new firearms purchases, and many of those families confronted the politicians face to face before their vote.

Please get your facts straight. Background checks are 100% required when purchasing from a federally licensed firearm seller (ie anything not private)

[thomastmc]

Why does everyone think this was bad bridge? I think we shouldn't to rush judgement. I realize its an old bridge but a truck could have hit the bridge and caused failure.

By the way...

The bridge was only "pretty bad", not "totally bad".

The Seattle Times reported that bridge was built in 1955 and was classified by the National Bridge Inventory as "functionally obsolete" in both 2000 and 2010. But it said the Washington Department of Transportation does not list it among its list of "structurally deficient bridges."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/23/washington-skagit-river-bridge-collapse/2356801/?csp=fbfanpage

"Functionally obsolete" means that the design of a bridge is not suitable for its current use, such as lack of safety shoulders or the inability to handle current traffic volume, speed, size, or weight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Bridge_Inventory

[thomastmc]

Please get your facts straight. Background checks are 100% required when purchasing from a federally licensed firearm seller (ie anything not private)

That was kind of the point of the law... Hence the term "Expanded Background Checks", and the hubbub on that thing called the news, and the vote in the Senate.

Get your facts straight.

The failure of the background check proposal authored by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., now imperils the entire legislation. The proposal would have expanded background checks to gun shows and Internet sales while exempting personal transactions. The amendment was aimed at winning over reluctant conservatives, who were opposed to the more stringent background check plan in the existing bill.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/17/background-check-plan-in-trouble-as-dems-call-votes-on-gun-bill/

[+Neowin User 007 Subscriber²]

That was kind of the point of the law... Hence the term "Expanded Background Checks", and the hubbub on that thing called the news, and the vote in the Senate.

Get your facts straight.

As much as I think that it would help to have more efficient background checks, there's a system in place already that is currently flawed. They should fix what they have first before throwing more layers on top of it.

[Xilo]

That was kind of the point of the law... Hence the term "Expanded Background Checks", and the hubbub on that thing called the news, and the vote in the Senate.

Get your facts straight.

Internet sales already require: shipping to a federally licensed dealer which also requires a background check for you to get the gun. Gun shows also require background checks done by licensed dealers.

Other than that, you can't regulate nor enforce private sales between 2 individuals. Get a clue.

[The Evil Overlord]

Guys, please, there is a gun thread for that.. :)

[thomastmc]

Protip: Private sales aren't enforceable. Get a clue.

You're just angry because you told me to get my facts straight and then proceeded to mangle your own through a cheese grater :)

[Major Plonquer]

Ooops. The State of Washington should definitely stay well away from building bridges. Terrible reputation going all the way back to the Tacoma Narrows disaster and the Floating Bridge that floated away.

Washington is a software state and shouldn't meddle with all this hardware stuff.

[+Neowin User 007 Subscriber²]

Why does everyone think this was bad bridge? I think we shouldn't to rush judgement. I realize its an old bridge but a truck could have hit the bridge and caused failure.

We have a winner! :woot:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/24/highway-bridge-collapses-in-washington-state-people-in-water/

[Ph1b3r0pt1c]

Loss of life is terrible, I agree.

I read my email alert and thought to my self, he's not from around here; sure enough I hop on and you're from the UK! :woot: The politicians don't need us anymore than they need a vote to do anything. They USED to work for the people, now we work for them. You can't even TALK to a politician without going through hoops to get a "maybe" towards a meeting. You have to be a lobbyist with a LOT of money to talk directly to them (lobbyist = legal bribing of course).

In America, you once could live Tax free, you can't do that anymore. You could be born and never hold a job, never buy anything or any property and still go to jail for not filing for taxes and not paying taxes.

If you don't like a restaurant you stop paying to go there - they shut down. If you don't like a politician and you stopped paying your taxes to make sure they get the point, well, you go to jail. I own a small business, I've gone a few rounds with the lovely government in this country.

I haven't seen very many trucks driving down the river :D . The bridge has a clean break on both sides and caves inward which means more than likely a pillar gave in at the center point.

MANY bridges in this country are beyond the point of safe, they are continually used regardless.

EDIT: For louisiana...

http://www.drivinglo...cleID=9&catID=2

Amen. Between Indiana and Kentucky here, we have 2 bridges, a north and south bound one. Both of them are rusting pretty badly, and you can see where large amounts of concrete have broken off, and the rebar is visible. The state of Kentucky

owns them, but has more important things to do with the money, like paving roads that are perfectly fine to begin with. When one of the politicians families get hurt or killed because of this, maybe something will happen, but to the average person:

sorry.

[VincentM]

Ooops. The State of Washington should definitely stay well away from building bridges. Terrible reputation going all the way back to the Tacoma Narrows disaster and the Floating Bridge that floated away.

Washington is a software state and shouldn't meddle with all this hardware stuff.

Argument from ignorance... :sleep:

[Atomic Wanderer Chicken]

Its amazing how a thread I created about bridge collapse transitioned into a guns conversation. Whether a truck hit the bridge or the bridge was neglected or had lack of inspections, I think our infrastructure in general needs more attention and alot more funding (not to say the bridge collapse was caused by that). We need to wait to see what officials say caused the collapse.

[Mr. Gibs]

Its amazing how a thread I created about bridge collapse transitioned into a guns conversation. Whether a truck hit the bridge or the bridge was neglected or had lack of inspections, I think our infrastructure in general needs more attention and alot more funding (not to say the bridge collapse was caused by that). We need to wait to see what officials say caused the collapse.

To add to that we need to stop wasting money fixing useless ****.

The highway by my house is in ok condition but since they're doing construction there's grooves and bumps everywhere...yay for tires and alignment.

Now since this is a highway that gets insanely congested during rush hour (only two lanes), so much so that it takes like 1 1/2 hours to go 5 miles, you'd think the construction was so they could add a new lane. Nope its so they can make the hard shoulders larger...

Its going to take them 1 year to do that during which the highway will be in an absolute **** condition and tona of money all so the hard shoulders can be made even wider. Good job government...