Skagit I-5 Bridge collapse

I heard on NPR that they were thinking about a bailey bridge for now - have not seen one that would span 160'-180' personally, but if they are around it would work in a pinch. Truss bridges are such a headache and unfortunately there are way to many of them around. You could inspect one for days and miss the one cracked plate that could bring the whole thing down, or a random truck could do the same - fracture critical indeed...

The Bailey bridge is a portable pre-fabricated truss bridge, designed for use by military engineering units to bridge up to 60-metre gaps (200 ft)

They built a few around Chehalis in 2008 when the floods wiped-out many local roads. I wouldn't be surprised if they go with something similar in the interim until they can put something more permanent in place.

Since Scotsman's company is assisting in remediation of the bridge he may be able to aide in your assumptions.

Since Scotsman's company is assisting in remediation of the bridge he may be able to aide in your assumptions.

True, our company has a crane barge on site as of this morning aiding with the demolition and hopefully the fix. We are under the direction of WSDOT and I will give you an update when I know some real information....in the meantime, I'm keeping mum!