Collapsed Skagit River Bridge

There are some things you never expect to see, especially when you live in small town Skagit Valley. A collapsed bridge is definitely high on that list, but for all of us Skagit Valley residents and the 70,000+ cars a day traveling on Interstate 5 a bridge with a quarter of it collapsed and now residing in the cold waters of the river below is the surreal reality.

On Thursday, May 23rd an over-height truck struck the overhead trusses of the I-5 bridge over the Skagit River, causing a section of the bridge to collapse. My wife and I were heading north to look at a house and were on the bridge about an hour an 40 minutes prior to the accident. We were on our way home about a half hour after the incident and saw first hand from the parallel bridge the aftermath and cause of the traffic mess we were in.

On Saturday, I took some time to take some photos from the nearby levee of the scene you never expect to see in person.

Panoramic of the entire bridge

Vertical Panoramic of part of the bridge

Zoomed in panoramic of the collapsed section

The bridge has become something of a local tourist attraction for locals and not so locals alike. Typically during the month April and the annual Tulip Festival we will have people stop and ask gave directions to the Tulip fields, and the other day while on a walk my wife and I had someone stop and ask how to get to the bridge for a visual vantage point.

Thank God this wasn't worse and no one died, hopefully they will get it repaired or replaced in a timely manner as the traffic is going to be a major issue until there is a new (or repaired) bridge.

Blessings,

Jesse