a temporary solution is in the works in that bridge collapse that injured three in washington state last week. officials say new steel girders could restore traffic by mid-june along this crucial artery between the u.s. and canada. on thursday, a truck slammed into an overhead support on the bridge, knocking out a portion of interstate 5. a permanent replacement bridge is expected sometime this september. 46 minutes after the hour. cnn s jeanne moos now shows us why it is never smart for a driver to block a fire hydrant. reporter: at first glance you can almost mistake it for a snake. it s like a giant squid is trying to eat a guy in a car. looks like they re trying to make it into a water bed. reporter: oh, there was water involved. take it from the fireman in charge that day in merced, california. i heard this loud glass crash and i turned around and i saw my engineer throwing a hose through the center of the car. reporter: ever since that day a little over two years ag
reporter: all three people inside those cars survived, including 20-year-old bryce kenny. it was just a straight nose dive into the water. reporter: federal and state inspectors say a truck with an oversize load is to blame. a very heavy vehicle crashed into not just one but probably multiple girders on the bridge and it failed. reporter: the truck driver william d. scott is being questioned by investigators. his wife says her husband is okay. he is shaken up. he was really scared for the people that were who had fallen off the bridge and he was really happy to hear that they were fine, to see that they were fine. and that was the real blessing. reporter: the skagit river bridge about 1100 feet long was built in 1955. inspected just last november, it was listed as functionally obsolete by the federal highway administration. which means the design is outdated, but structurally sound. it was generally a healthy bridge. and it could continue to operate. that doesn t mean
collapsing it and sending two weeks into the river. we have vehicles in the water. all three people inside the cars survived, including 20-year-old broois kenning. i was a straight nose dive into the water. a truck with an oversize load is to blame. a very heavy vehicle crashed into multiple girders on the bridge and it failed. the truckdriver, william d. scott is being questioned by investigators. his wife says her husband is okay. he is shaken up. he was really scared for the people who had fallen off the bridge and he was really happy to hear that they were fine, to see if they were fine. that was a real blessing. the skagit river bridge about 1100 feet long was built in 19 a 5, inspected just last november it was listed as functionality obsolete by the federal highway administration which means the design is outdated but
drive on this bridge if we thought there were any concerns whatsoever. so, as i understand it, and you are going to have to clear this up for me if you could, kirk. although we are not establishing any cause officially right now as i understand it, there was an accident and there was a truck that did crash into part of the structure of the bridge. can you sort of round that out and give me the real pick? yes. about 7:00 last night, we had a semi that was traveling southbound on i-5, a flatbed semi. it was carrying a very large oversize load basically, equipment casing form for a drill rig and in this section of i-5, it s two lanes southbound, two lanes northbound. it was in the right-hand lane. and as the semi went onto the bridge, what the initial investigation shows is it appears the right front portion of that load that it was carrying struck one of the girders support sections of the bridge.
collapse. this man saw it happen. i saw the truck strike the upper right corner of the bridge. it almost tipped the truck over. it tipped it up to about a 30-degree angle to the left and it came back down on its wheels, and almost instantaneously behind that i saw girders falling in my rear-view mirror. state police questioned the driver, but he wasn t detained. plenty of people are getting a firsthand look at the twisted wreckage of the bridge today. the federal highway administration listed it as functionally obsolete. meaning it was old and narrow, and not up to modern standards. authorities estimate it s going to take $15 million to fix this bridge. they don t know how long it s going to take, weeks, maybe even months. this is going to be a major inconvenience for the people who live in this area. this is a major roadway, accommodating about 71,000 vehicles each and every day. wolf? dan simon on the scene for us, thank you.