[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8301-8302]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          I-5 BRIDGE COLLAPSE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. Larsen) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, 5 weeks ago Dan and Sally 
Sligh packed up their camper and headed out on Interstate 5 on the way 
to their favorite campsite in northwest Washington State. While 
crossing a bridge over the Skagit River that they'd safely crossed many 
times before, a large truck ahead of them clipped the bridge's frame 
above. Without warning, and without time to react, the pavement under 
Dan's pickup fell out from underneath them. Next, Dan said, ``It was 
just a white flash and cold water.''
  Like thousands of my constituents, I myself have driven over that 
bridge many times. But now, today, no cars are crossing it. Recovery 
workers have been hard at work pulling pieces of that bridge, along 
with Dan's pickup, from the flowing waters of the Skagit River and 
quickly building a replacement span.
  The fact that no one died in this collapse is a blessing, but not all 
have been so lucky. My colleagues will remember in 2007 when a bridge 
spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis crashed during rush hour, 
killing 13 people and injuring another 145.
  Today I want to ask my colleagues a simple question: Shouldn't 
Americans be able to drive across a highway bridge with the reasonable 
expectation that it will not crumble away from underneath them?
  On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee 
will hold a hearing on the Skagit River bridge collapse. I spoke this 
morning to the Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board 
about its investigation. I'm eager to read their report on the 
incident. But we already know that our aging infrastructure should be 
enough to make this Congress act.

[[Page 8302]]

  Sixty-seven thousand bridges in our country are rated structurally 
deficient--67,000 bridges. When those bridges fall, it isn't just the 
unlucky few on those bridges who suffer. Whole economies that rely on 
safe and efficient transportation suffer.
  The I-5 bridge over the Skagit River doesn't just connect Burlington 
and Mount Vernon; it connects the entire west coast and carries 
millions of dollars worth of trade between Canada and the U.S. Today, 
that trade is in stop-and-go traffic on local roads.
  But here's the good news: we know how to build safe bridges. There 
are thousands of civil engineers devoting their lives to building good 
structures that don't fall down. But we need to pay for them. We need 
to maintain our bridges until they are old, and then we need to replace 
them. We can't keep waiting until they crumble into the water below.
  President Obama wants to fix it first by spending $40 billion on 
highways, bridges, transit systems, and airports that are most in need 
of repair. That's a good start, and Congress should approve that 
funding. But if we're really going to do something about our long-term 
transportation needs, this body, this Congress, needs to get to work on 
a long-term transportation bill that doesn't just patch our aging 
roads, but invests in an infrastructure that meets the needs of 
America's 21st century economy. We can't have a big league economy with 
little league infrastructure.
  Over Memorial Day, more than 31 million Americans hit the roads. I 
ask my colleagues: Were you among them? How many bridges did you drive 
over? How many were structurally deficient? If you think your 
constituents should be able to drive over a bridge without wondering 
whether it will crumble beneath them, then this Congress must act on a 
long-term transportation bill. It's time to put our money where our 
safety is.

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