Date:  Thursday, July 10, 2008

Contact: Dustin Terpening, WSDOT Communications, 360.661.7903 (cell)
See Photos of the bridge on flickr

BURLINGTON – A truck towing an excavator on northbound I-5 hit and severely damaged the SR 11 Chuckanut Drive overpass in Burlington Thursday, July 10. Three of the six bridge girders had concrete and rebar damage. The girders are the structural support beams for the bridge.

After an initial inspection, engineers reopened all lanes of I-5, but have placed strict weight limits on the overpass. No traffic is allowed on the north side of the overpass. Flaggers will alternate traffic through the one open lane on the south side of the overpass. No vehicles over 25,000 pounds are allowed.

Bridge engineers will return first thing Friday morning to model and research the bridge to find the best and most appropriate solution. In a worst case scenario the girders will have to be completely replaced. In the best case scenario the girders can be repaired.
The right northbound lane of I-5 will be closed at 6:30 a.m., Friday, July 11 while bridge engineers continue inspections.

“There are a lot of variables right now and we just don’t know what the answers are to those variables until we do more testing tomorrow morning,” said Maintenance Superintendent Ron Morton.

After the excavator hit the bridge and concrete began to fall, crews closed the right lane of northbound I-5 for more than two hours while bridge inspectors and engineers cleared broken concrete and inspected the bridge.

The Chuckanut Drive overpass stands 15’3” tall over I-5. According to Washington State Patrol, the excavator was more than 17 feet high.
At this time, it’s too early to estimate the cost of repairs.

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