Cars, people sent tumbling into river as bridge in Washington state collapses

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http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Cars-bodies-in-Skagit-River-after-I-5-Bridge-collapse--208760201.html

The Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River collapsed Thursday evening, dropping two vehicles into the water and injuring three people.

Rescue crews in several boats were able to pull all three people from the semi-submerged vehicles, which were tangled in the wreckage of the bridge.

All three were taken taken to a local hospital and the extent of their injuries is not known. Nobody was killed in the collapse.

Washington Department of Transportation bridge inspectors are now trying to determine what caused the collapse.

State troopers have located a commercial motor vehicle believed to have hit several girders on the bridge just prior to the collapse. The driver is cooperating with investigators.

The bridge was built in 1955 and has a sufficiency rating of 57.4 out of 100, according to federal records. That is well below the statewide average rating of 80, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data. 759 bridges in the state have a lower sufficiency score.

The bridge is not considered structurally deficient but is listed as being "functionally obsolete" - a category meaning that their design is outdated, such as having narrow shoulders with low clearance underneath, according to a database compiled by the Federal Highway Administration.