I-5 Skagit River Crossing Bridge Open
WSDOT has announced that traffic is now moving north and south on the new temporary bridging across the Skagit River at Mt. Vernon, WA. Lanes are a littler narrower, and speed is reduced to 40mph acr...
Forum Discussion
romore wrote:
Initially we were told the temporary span would not be available for several months, a permanent replacement could take a couple of years. Obviously somebody in Olympia got their wind up and rattled some chains.:B
I don't recall anyone (official) talking about months and years. The current time frame has been the plan since 3 days after the collapse.
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/News/2013/05/26_skagit-bridge-replacement-plan.htm
But the governor did push for quick work, and various permitting steps were sped up (e.g. getting verbal agreements on site before filling the full paper work).
WSDOT's also making a big deal that the contractor selected to install the permanent span is also the one who installed bridge beams in Vancouver (WA) over a weekend with 19 hrs to spare.
Some state legislators were asking why can't all road projects be done this fast. But the legislature itself isn't a model of getting things done fast.
Latest NTSB report (June 5)
http://www.ntsb.gov/news/2013/130605d.html
