Truck Load Damages Sullivan Bridge

Fri., Sept. 8, 2000

By Trinity Hartman trinityh@spokesman.com

FOR THE RECORD: September 13, 2000: Employer wrong: A truck driver who drove under the Sullivan bridge at Trent with an oversize load last week, knocking off portions of the bridge’s underside, is not an employee of Pride Logging Co. A story in Saturday’s Spokesman-Review said otherwise.

The metal bars holding the cement in place hung from the Sullivan bridge like shredded cheese.

“We have bridges hit quite often, and normally they take a little chunk out,” Department of Transportation maintenance supervisor Russ Johnson said.

“This is the worst I’ve ever seen.” The damage - caused by a semi-truck hauling an oversized load - shut down traffic both on the bridge and below it Thursday.

At 2 p.m. Washington State Patrol trooper Mark Haas was patrolling Trent Avenue near the Sullivan Road bridge. Just ahead of him, a semi-truck was hauling a large red construction crane.

As Haas approached the bridge, it disappeared in a cloud of dust.

“The bridge was completely obliterated. I thought it had collapsed,” Haas said.

The state patrol immediately shut down Trent’s westbound lanes of traffic as chunks of concrete fell from the bridge.

No one was injured.

The two northbound lanes of Sullivan also were closed immediately, due to fear that side of the bridge is structurally unsound.

A DOT bridge inspection team was on its way from Olympia on Thursday night to assess the damage. The Sullivan bridge could be restricted to one lane in each direction for several days until the bridge is fixed, Johnson said.

It’s likely that the Trent lanes will open sooner, possibly as early as today, he said.

The semi was transporting the crane from Priest Lake to Spokane. The crane struck the underside of the bridge, scraping an area as much as 10 feet wide. The damaged area stretched nearly to the middle of the bridge.

The driver, an employee of Pride Logging Co., likely will be cited for numerous permit violations, WSP Sgt. Lee Boling said. The bridge is 15 feet 8 inches tall. The standard bridge height is 15 feet. The driver’s load was both too tall and too heavy for the permits he had, police said.

Pride Logging owner Wayne Babb was following the semi in his own vehicle.

“It’s a bad deal because those bridges are pretty expensive,” he said. The company has insurance.

The DOT said it would not know how much repairs will cost, or who will pay for them, until after the bridge is inspected.

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