Traffic investigators believe the rig coming from Harrisburg and hauling a 75,000-pound I-beam to a Milwaukie light-rail construction site overturned as it approached an afternoon traffic jam on northbound Interstate 5.
It appears the driver attempted to brake on a sloping section of the bridge that has a slight angle, said Sgt. Pete Simpson, a Portland police spokesman.
“The stopping, the camber of the road: It was a perfect storm,” Simpson said. “You probably couldn’t duplicate it in a million years.”
The traffic-snarling wreck happened about 3 p.m. The monstrous 168-foot-long concrete-and-rebar girder destined for a Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail project site in Milwaukie crushed a Volkswagen Tiguan driven 23-year-old Dana Kay Buice.
The truck and beam traveled nearly a hundred miles if I got the correct Harrisberg. And I understand that people should have free will to work at what they love. But does anyone think that this driver at 67 years old had other equitable options than the arduous task of hauling this beam? To get so close and have this happen.
But do not think I am laying this on the driver they are but a mere cog in a corporate wheel. And as far as I know perfectly adept at the job.
Oversight is more of what I'm concerned with.
Why were there any vehicles sharing that section of bridge with a vehicle that long?
Where were the spotter cars that should be fore and aft of such an unwieldy vehicle?
Why wasn't the camber of the road addressed before the beam was hauled? We can only defy physics so far.
Also if the chase cars were there were they flagged? Literally? Because I was out walking as this occurred and the winds as they are apt to do here were not gentle in any sense. Looking at that beam I can see tremendous amount of sail not only on the vertical side but the upper part of the I protruding will also become a sail.
I'm at a loss at how the department of transportation decides these things but in my eyes this situation may not have been avoidable but there were steps that could have been taken to ensure that the safety was not compromised in the name of profit.
The project itself that this beam was going to is fantastic in my eyes.
Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Bridge
Will carry no private vehicles but transit and pedestrians as well as bicyclists.
The Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Bridge will serve light rail trains, pedestrians, cyclists, and in the future, Portland Streetcar. Bus lines 9, 17 and 19, which currently travel on the Ross Island Bridge, may also change routes to use the new bridge (Decisions about bus line planning in regards to the entire project will occur through a service planning public process). The bridge will not serve private vehicles, but will be able to accommodate emergency vehicles.
The mock ups in the links are beautiful and it is fun watching them build it.
Bridge facts
Four-pier cable-stayed bridge type (two piers on land, two in the water at the towers)
Approximately 1720 feet in length
Two towers, each 180 feet high
Typical width is 75.5 feet; at the towers, the width is 110.5 feet
Five spans
Approximately 3.5 miles of cable
Two 14-feet-wide bicycle and pedestrian paths
South Corridor Project
The South Corridor Project—led by Metro in partnership with TriMet, the City of Portland, the City of Milwaukie and Clackamas County—has worked to identify transportation options for the fast-growing I-205 and Milwaukie/Oregon City corridors. When the study began in 1999, light rail was not an option under consideration. But neighborhoods along the alignment—from Southeast Portland to Milwaukie—requested that light rail be part of the study, and it was ultimately adopted as the preferred option..
Subsequently, the South Corridor Project has followed a two-phased approach. In September 2009, Phase 1 brought MAX Green Line service to the I-205 corridor between Clackamas Town Center and Gateway, where it then uses the existing MAX Blue and Red line tracks to travel to downtown Portland. Once the Green Line crosses the Steel Bridge, it follows new tracks along the Portland Mall to Portland State University. Portland-Milwaukie light rail constitutes Phase 2 of the South Corridor Project.
Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail BridgeCams
Two cameras provide live footage of the construction of the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Bridge. On the west side of the Willamette River, a camera is positioned on the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Center for Health and Healing in South Waterfront. On the east side, a camera is on the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI).
OHSU Bridgecam
OMSI Bridgecam