OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) – Insufficient route planning, a distracted pilot driver and an inadequate permitting process by the state of Washington all played a part in last year’s Interstate 5 bridge collapse north of Seattle, which sent two cars into a river below, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.
The board voted unanimously after a nearly two-hour hearing to issue a number of recommendations, including encouraging states to ban nonessential cellphone use by pilot car drivers and requiring better warnings of low-clearance bridges, as well as lane-specific guidance for bridge clearance.
Chris Hart, acting chairman of the four-member board, said the wide-ranging report provided by NTSB staff showed the “many missed opportunities to prevent this accident.”
“Movement of oversized loads is a specialized operation that demands special precautions,” he said. “What this investigation uncovered were multiple gaps in multiple systems.”
Board member Mark Rosekind said the report showed “there were holes in every one of these slices of cheese.”