Remembering the Skagit River Bridge collapse, 10 years later
May 23, 2023, 12:28 PM | Updated: 1:18 pm
(Photo from KIRO 7)
(Photo from KIRO 7)
On May 23, 2013, the Skagit River Bridge collapsed when a truck carrying an oversize load struck the overhead support beams, causing it to crumble into the water, along with three people in two cars.
A Washington State Patrol report said the oversized load was two inches too high.
Troopers placed the blame on the truck driver, William Scott of Alberta, Canada.
They cited him for second-degree negligent driving — a $550 fine, but Scott fought the ticket. Troopers said the pilot driver did not warn the truck driver about bridge’s the low clearance.
Documents from the National Transportation Safety Board included vivid details from the truck driver, who described what happened after the load hit the bridge.
“So it was just a horrendous boom and things were — it was violent in the cab,” Scott told the NTSB, according to a transcript included in 2,000 pages of investigative documents reviewed by KIRO 7.
No one was killed in the collapse, but it cost the state $17 million to replace the span.
