Multiple passengers injured as STA double-decker bus doesn’t clear viaduct

A double-decker Spokane Transit Authority bus with passengers apparently took the wrong street through downtown Sunday afternoon, causing it to crash into a railroad viaduct overpass.

The impact of the crash sheared about a quarter of the bus’s second deck, causing varying degrees of injuries to four passengers who were taken to the hospital, said Brandon Rapez-Betty, STA chief operating officer.

Just after noon Sunday, the bus crashed into the Cedar Street viaduct, which has a clearance of 12 feet compared with the bus’s 13-foot-6 height.

The bus was assigned to Route 6 traveling from Cheney to the University District by way of downtown. The route map shows it’s intended to cross under the viaduct at Jefferson Stree, which has a  clearance of 14-foot-4 .

“My thoughts are with our passengers who were injured in this tragic accident,” STA CEO Karl Otterstrom said in a provided statement. “We have already begun a full investigation and will implement additional measures to prevent this from happening ever again.”

One passenger taken to the hospital had several cuts on his face, passenger Omat Omat, 52, said. Omat was sitting on the first story of the bus and said he’d bumped his shoulder and head, but didn’t go to the hospital after the crash.

He said around five passengers were on each floor of the bus. He remembered hearing a couple loud “boom” noises, and passengers were suddenly jolted around the bus. He watched crews force open a door on the top floor so passengers could get out.

As Omat rode the bus, he watched an STA promo video play on a screen on the bus displaying its clearance at 14 feet. As the bus approached the Cedar Street viaduct, warning of 12-feet clearance. “I knew then it was a wrong turn,” Omat said.

Spokane police closed both directions of the roadway to clear the scene. It took less than two hours for STA crews to pry the bus from under the viaduct, manually peel back part of the shaved off roof and clear debris like shattered glass from the roadway. After the bus was freed from the viaduct, an STA worker drove it to the STA garage on Boone Avenue, where Rapez-Petty said it will be investigated and “likely” repaired because it is still drivable.

It’s too soon to guess the extent of the repair or bill to fix it, Rapez-Petty said. The buses cost around $1.4 million each when the agency purchased them in 2022.

Rapez-Petty said the double-decker buses will continue to service routes as normal, calling the crash an “outlier event” for STA. It’s the only time a double-decker bus has collided with a viaduct since they started carrying passengers in September.

STA coordinated with the city of Spokane to address potential damage to the viaduct. Some of the concrete was chipped after the collision and one of the flashing lights warning motorists of the viaduct’s clearance dangled from its wires.

Semitrucks crashing or getting stuck under the downtown viaducts have been a frequent occurrence in Spokane, so much so that STA made light of the problem last summer as it was preparing to start using its double-decker fleet.

The agency released a ‘Jaws’-themed commercial ahead of the buses’ launch, addressing concerns that the buses would be too tall to squeeze through the city’s many viaducts.

In that ad, the bus clears the on-route Jefferson Street overpass without incident, with the graphic “told you so” displayed on the vehicle’s destination sign.

“We know we’re already getting people commenting that we’re going to get them stuck underneath the viaducts. You know, it’s a common problem in Spokane and we know everyone’s really concerned about this,” Spokane Transit spokeswoman Carly Cortright said when interviewed in July about the advertisement.

“We had already arranged our service several years ago to use the Jefferson viaduct that does have the proper clearance and we decided, let’s make a sort of fun, tongue-in-cheek (advertisement). Let’s lean into it.”

Editor’s note: This report was changed on Jan. 20, 2026 to correct information about the official path of STA’s routes 6 and 66. Double-deckers travel under the downtown railroad viaduct on Jefferson Street northbound and southbound.