Bridge piece moves 10 miles
A huge piece of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge might roll Wednesday, more than two weeks after permit problems stranded it at the Idaho state line.
Denied passage through Washington on March 17 after tipping state weigh station scales at 330,000 pounds, the load was moved 10 miles into the state Monday so modifications could be made to the trailer hauling it.
The weight must be spread so it doesn’t damage roads, according to the state Department of Transportation. Big Boat Movers owner Mike Love said the delays and alterations are bankrupting his Texas-based trucking company, which moved the expansion joint 1,300 miles without trouble – until reaching Washington.
The changes will cost Big Boat $18,000 – more if the DOT requires a new permit. The original $5,000 permit was nullified when the trailer rolled into Washington roughly 13,000 pounds overweight.
Widened to 16 feet, the trailer will travel to Tacoma no faster than 30 mph, Love said. Then, Big Boat will return to South Dakota to pick up a similar steel and neoprene expansion joint for the bridge’s other end.
– Tom Lutey
Coeur d’Alene
Truck loses spuds on I-90 curve
There wasn’t enough time Monday night to determine how many of the 60,000 pounds of potatoes scattered about Interstate 90 near Coeur d’Alene had been mashed or whipped by traffic.
Instead, for several hours after a semitruck carrying the tubers tumbled around a curve at milepost 17, state transportation crews used front-loaders to pick up the wayward potatoes, said a dispatcher with the Idaho State Police.
A rig owned by Mendelez Trucking was turning a corner when it tipped and let loose its load. The driver was given a citation.
Idaho has, since 1960, advertised its fame in potato growing on every standard license plate.
But the truck bearing the starchy crop had Oregon plates and was heading west toward Washington, the dispatcher said. So it’s not clear whether these were Idaho spuds.
Most of the potatoes were pushed off to the side of the road by work crews while another crew attempted to right the semi.
– Christopher Rodkey