Worker injured on 520 bridge construction dies
Mar 12, 2015, 4:12 PM | Updated: Mar 13, 2015, 5:49 am
A Seattle hospital spokeswoman says a worker injured on the construction site for the new State Route 520 bridge across Lake Washington has died.
Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman Susan Gregg said Thursday night that the man was brought to the hospital in “very, very critical condition” and died shortly after arrival. He was not immediately identified.
The Seattle Times reports that Bellevue Fire Lt. Rich Burke says the man fell about 60 feet Thursday afternoon. Burke says state troopers arrived first and performed CPR before the man was rushed to the hospital.
Washington State Department of Transportation spokesman Ian Sterling says the worker was on top of the east highrise for the new bridge, where fixed highway spans extend toward the future floating bridge.
Work on the bridge has been halted, Friday. Sterling said that decision was made so that so workers can grieve and the contractor can look into what went wrong.
A closure of the SR 520 bridge scheduled for the weekend will go on as planned, said Sterling. That project, on the west side of Lake Washington, is a different project and contractor.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
