The Washington Governor has announced that the repair of the westbound I-90 Bullfrog overpass will likely take several months after the bridge was struck by an oversize load.
The overpass was damaged on October 21st near Cle Elum, Washington. The repair timeline was announced on Tuesday, October 28th.
According to KIRO, the Washington State Department of Transportation worked for 22 hours straight after the accident to remove all damaged portions of the overpass. This work allowed westbound Interstate 90 to reopen quickly.
“Thank you to the WSDOT crews and contractors who moved quickly to reopen westbound I-90,” Washington Governor Bob Ferguson said. “Our work to repair the damage is just beginning.”
In order to repair the I-90 Bullfrog overpass, westbound I-90 will need to be shut down periodically, which is expected to create traffic issues for the region. Most of the construction is expected to occur at night. A complete timeline for the project is expected to be released in December.
“I-90 is one of the busiest routes in the state for east-to-west transportation,” said Meagan Lott, communications manager for WSDOT. “We see about 17,000 drivers going westbound, and about 1,500 vehicles traveling over the overpass every day. It is going to have an impact on drivers, specifically if you’re trying to get somewhere in a timely manner.”
“The loss of this overpass severely impacts the Cle Elum, Roslyn, and the Suncadia area. We will work as quickly as possible to replace this vital connection for the community,” Ferguson said. “We’ve seen too many bridge strikes — and their impacts on local communities — in the last few months. They are preventable, and we are working on strategies to reduce them.”
Ferguson has issued an emergency proclamation over the damage. The state is seeking federal funding for the repairs, as well as reimbursement from the truck driver, and any other responsible parties.
The truck driver in the incident, 64-year-old Canadian trucker Allan Bergsma, had a permit to haul the oversize load but did not follow the specific guidelines. As part of the permit, Bergsma was required to use certain exits to avoid low overpasses. In this specific situation, Bergsma was supposed to use Exit 80 and the reenter I-90 further down, allowing him to avoid the I-90 Bullfrog overpass. He has been cited for permit violations.