TUKWILA, Wash. — The 42nd Ave S Bridge in the Allentown neighborhood of Tukwila has been closed indefinitely after a semi-truck lost its load while traveling across the bridge Wednesday morning.
The incident took place at 11:15 a.m., and the Tukwila Police Department closed the bridge by 11:40 a.m.
About an hour after closing the bridge, police tweeted, “Due to damage sustained to the bridge, it will be closed for an unknown amount of time until engineers can inspect it.”
Tukwila City Administrator David Cline announced later Wednesday the bridge will remain closed for an indefinite amount of time.
King County is expected to inspect the bridge Thursday. That inspection will determine the next steps toward reopening the bridge.
“Until that inspection is complete, we can’t speculate on next steps," Cline said in a statement Wednesday. "Once we know more we will share the information with the broader community, along with our plans moving forward."
Tukwila is currently in the process of replacing the 42nd Avenue S Bridge, which was built in 1949. According to the project’s page on the city’s website, the bridge needs to be replaced since it is approaching the end of its expected lifespan.
The 280-foot-long bridge has a sufficiency rating of 7.56 out of 100, and the Federal Highway Authority considers it to be both structurally deficient and functionally obsolete.
The city is currently in the design phase of the project, looking at data to find out the current conditions of the bridge in order to decide on preliminary designs for the bridge’s replacement.
Some specific issues with the bridge include loss of shoreline protection, concrete cracking at the north pier, frozen bridge bearings, corrosion and pack rust.
Plans for if the bridge were to collapse include rerouting truck traffic over Steel Mill bridge and residential traffic to S. 115th Street while a long-term solution is planned and put in place.