State will raise clearance on Skagit River bridge
Jul 24, 2013, 12:30 PM | Updated: 1:07 pm
The state will raise the clearance on the I-5 bridge that was hit by a truck and partially collapsed in May. (AP Photo)
(AP Photo)
The state will raise the clearance on the I-5 bridge that was hit by a truck and partially collapsed in May. Contractors will replace the arched trusses over the Skagit River bridge in Mount Vernon.
“We are going to modify the bridge so that it has an 18-foot minimum clearance straight across the bridge,” said Travis Phelps with the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Currently, the vertical clearance above the right lane fog line is just 15-1/2 feet.
“It’s higher in the center,” he added.
The state is advertising for competitive bids for the $4.5 million project, funded through the Federal Emergency Fund and the state’s bridge preservation program. The work will begin after a permanent replacement section is finished in September. The truss retrofit across the full bridge should be finished in November.
An oversize truck hit the Skagit River bridge truss May 23, causing the partial collapse. Vehicles went into the water but nobody was seriously injured or killed. A temporary bridge is now in place while a permanent replacement is being built.
