Bridge collapse sends dump truck into Snohomish County creek

A dump truck driver is lucky to be walking around after a terrifying bridge collapse that landed him and his truck in a creek Monday.

It happened in the afternoon off Old Owen Road in Monroe when a private bridge over Woods Creek gave way.

From the ground it just looked like a construction zone, with flashing lights and slowed traffic. But from Chopper 7 you got the real story.

A truck driver hauling septic tanks to one of several properties on the other side of Woods Creek never made it; the estimated 15,000 pound vehicle was just too heavy for the old, rickety bridge.

"The bridge is made out of steel trusses and then wood planks across the top," Heather Chadwick, the Snohomish County Fire District 7 spokesperson told us. "The steel ended up contorting a little as the truck fell into the creek—it was about ten feet or so from the creek so it was about a ten foot fall."

The truck flipped on the passenger side and fortunately there was no passenger. People who live nearby can't say it's a shock.

"I'm not surprised," Ken Zappia said. His dog likes to take a dip in this part of Woods Creek so he's driven over the bridge at least two dozen times and every time he's a little less confident.

"I don't know if I would have gone over it in a big old truck though. It's scary just going over in my car," Ken said.

With the driver uninjured—and the truck intact—the biggest concern was containing any oil leaking out of the vehicle.

By Monday evening Dick's Towing was using an excavator to remove trees and large metal plates to distribute the weight of the truck in order to remove it from the creek.

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