APRIL 13, 2015
BONNEY LAKE, WASHINGTON
This is the latest deadly incident of construction failures
in Washington State. Several construction
workers and public have either died or injured the last year alone. All these incidents were caused by negligent
or incompetent construction contractors and incompetent oversight from the
State of Washington or local entities.
A concrete slab fell from a construction site on a
Washington state highway overpass on Monday, crushing a vehicle driving
underneath the span and killing a young couple and a baby boy, police said.
When workers were finally able to reach the damaged pickup,
they found the victims — a man and a woman in their mid-20s and an infant,
Bonney Lake police said Monday night.
Fire officials initially said at least one person had been
killed.
The couple was the parents of the infant, who was 6 to 8
months old, reported The News Tribune, a Tacoma newspaper
(http://is.gd/J2qOgQ). The victims were not immediately identified, but police said
they were local residents.
Construction crews were installing a sidewalk on the state
Route 410 overpass in Bonney Lake, when a chunk of concrete fell to the roadway
below around 10:30 a.m.
It was not immediately known what caused the "very
heavy" concrete structure to fall. Bonney Lake police, the state
Department of Transportation and representatives from contractor WHH Nisqually
were investigating.
City spokesman Woody Edvalson said the material that fell
was part of the original span, which was built in 1992 and has a sufficiency
rating of 95.3 out of 100.
Bonney Lake is about 30 miles southeast of Seattle.
Construction for a $1.8 million city sidewalk project to
improve pedestrian access along the highway started about a month ago. WHH
Nisqually had crews on scene Monday.
"The project was to add a pedestrian walkway along that
overpass on SR 410," Edvalson said. "This accident occurred as a
result of that effort."
The project included rebuilding the north side of the
bridge, adding a sewer line, widening SR 410 between the bridge and 192nd
Avenue, and adding bases for future street lights, according to city documents.
//----------------------------------//
MOTHER, FATHER, AND INFANT CRUSHED TO DEATH AFTER CONCRETE
WALL FALLS FROM OVERPASS IN BONNEY LAKE.
INCOMPETENT CONTRACTORS TO BLAME FOR THE DISASTER
APRIL 13, 2015
A mother, father and their infant son were killed Monday
when a concrete wall fell from a state Route 410 overpass under renovation in
Bonney Lake and crushed the truck’s cab.
The names of the couple in their 20s and the roughly
6-month-old baby were not released Monday, but police spokesman Todd Green said
the family lived in the Bonney Lake area. Police traced the registration of the
vehicle, but they didn’t expect the three victims to be officially identified
before Tuesday.
It was not immediately known what caused the “very heavy”
concrete structure to fall onto Angeline Road East, city spokesman Woody
Edvalson said.
A construction crew had been working on a project to replace
and extend a sidewalk on the overpass. The material that fell was part of the
original overpass, which was built in 1992, Edvalson said.
East Pierce Fire & Rescue officials said the accident
happened before 11 a.m. when the concrete structure and other materials fell
off the overpass and landed on the pickup as it emerged from under the span.
Crews initially thought one person may have been in the
vehicle, and worked to stabilize the construction site and clear the debris to
determine if any other passengers were in the truck. It was shortly after 8
p.m. when police said they’d found a family of three had died.
Bonney Lake Public Works Director Dan Grigsby said crews
were preparing to remove the outside wall of the overpass in order to replace
it with an updated structure. The contractor’s demolition plan was reviewed and
approved by the state, he said.
“The type of work that was going on shouldn’t have resulted
in anything falling,” he said.
Work started about a month ago and is being completed by the
contractor WHH Nisqually, which had crews on scene when the accident occurred.
The small business is owned by the Nisqually Indian Tribe.
A WHH Nisqually employee said the company was directing
questions to Bonney Lake officials.
Bonney Lake police, the state Department of Transportation
and representatives of the contractor were investigating the accident. Angeline
Road was closed for the investigation.
Lane closures were planned for Angeline Road during later
phases of construction, said Edvalson, the city spokesman.
“It was not anticipated that closing the lanes would be
advisable or necessary at this point,” he said.
State Transportation Department spokeswoman Claudia Bingham
Baker said she asked around Monday and was unable to find an industry standard
for closing lanes under bridge work.
Traffic control plans usually are outlined in contracts for
construction work, she said.
The project is part of a larger effort by the city to
improve pedestrian access along the highway. It will complete the missing link
of sidewalks along state Route 410, Edvalson said.
A city newsletter in January said constructing that section
of the sidewalk would be difficult, given its location on the overpass.
The city awarded the nearly $1.8 million contract to WHH
Nisqually in December, according to documents. . City funds and state grant
money are covering the cost, Grigsby said.
Project plans include rebuilding the northern side of the
bridge, adding a sewer line, widening state Route 410 between the bridge and
192nd Avenue East and adding bases for future street lights along a “rather
dark corridor,” the newsletter states.
Grigsby said it was not known Monday when project
construction will continue. It originally was scheduled to end in May.
“There’s still a lot of work to do,” he said.
Source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/