Skagit River Bridge News

Infrastructure renewal and engineering combine to provide an obscure, often under-appreciated, but nevertheless critically important aspect of marine operations. In the Pacific Northwest, for example, the waterway abundant geography provides engineering and specialized moving company Omega Morgan with all sorts of challenges that involve bridges spanning rivers. Whether crossing or moving these spans, West Coast-based Omega Morgan, faces particularly unique engineering challenges.

Omega Morgan, a 22-year-old specialized moving company, has its eyes on the aging bridges in the Pacific Northwest. After successfully employing the jack-and-slide method of efficiently moving bridge spans into place for two high-profile projects, the company sees more opportunities in Oregon and Washington. In January, Omega Morgan moved Portland’s 1,100-foot-long, 3,400-ton Sellwood Bridge across the Willamette River in a single day, in one piece and on an angle, drawing national media and big crowds. Then in Washington State on the night of Sept.

Global Diving & Salvage, Inc., under contract to Atkinson Construction, provided diving and salvage services throughout the investigation and debris recovery phase after the bridge collapse. On Thursday, May 23, 2013 while traveling in the southbound lane of Interstate 5, a truck hauling a heavy and oversized load struck the support structure of a bridge crossing the Skagit River in Mt. Vernon, WA. The damage inflicted by the truck caused the 160’ long four lane span to collapse into the river below, completely severing the interstate. While the truck cleared the bridge before it collapsed, two passenger vehicles caught up in the failure of the bridge were destroyed with the passengers emerging shocked and scared, but alive.