Workers unloaded beams, steel plates and girders this week to build a temporary replacement bridge on Interstate 5 in Washington state, and a federal lawmaker called for a Congressional hearing on bridge safety, news services reported.
Officials said following last Thursday’s accident and subsequent bridge collapse that a temporary replacement for the Skagit River Bridge north of Seattle could be in place by mid-June.
The Washington State Department of Transportation expects to complete a permanent four-lane roadway by September, which will cost about $15 million, the Seattle Times reported. The U.S. Department of Transportation already pledged $1 million for the project.
Meanwhile, Rep. Janice Hahn (D-Calif.), a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, wants Congress to hold a hearing on bridge safety after returning from recess next week, The Hill newspaper reported.
Hahn wrote in a letter to Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) that the panel should make bridge safety a priority because many are at risk of collapse, The Hill reported.
