Global's Divers Cleared Collapsed Skagit River Bridge
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.
Interstate 5 is the major West coast transportation route between the US and Canada, serving more than 70,000 vehicles per day.
Global Diving say that dive operations in the river were complicated by spring runoff conditions resulting in high river currents. The operations included a detailed underwater survey of the downstream edge of the wreckage to ensure that it was safe to bring demolition equipment alongside, cutting and rigging the bridge wreckage and an underwater inspection to survey for damage to the bridge piers.
ABOUT GLOBAL DIVING & SALVAGE:
Global Diving & Salvage, Inc. is based in Seattle, WA with additional offices in the San Francisco Bay Area; Houston, Texas; and Anchorage, Alaska. Founded in 1979 as a diving and marine services company it currently specializes in deep diving to 1,000 feet.
www.gdiving.com
