Aurora Ave. Bridge reopens after violent 3-vehicle crash
SEATTLE - The Aurora Bridge has reopened after a Thursday night head-on crash that snarled traffic and left one man fighting for his life.
The crash, which involved a car and two trucks, happened just after 6:30 p.m. Thursday, according to police.
A white box truck and a purple Ford pickup collided in the middle of the bridge. Medics transported one of the drivers to Harborview Medical Center with "life threatening injures," according to the Seattle Fire Department.
No one else was injured in the crash.
With the bridge impassable, traffic on Aurora Avenue ground to a halt as the Seattle police investigated the accident.
The bridge reopened at about 12:30 a.m. Friday.
The crash, which involved a car and two trucks, happened just after 6:30 p.m. Thursday, according to police.
A white box truck and a purple Ford pickup collided in the middle of the bridge. Medics transported one of the drivers to Harborview Medical Center with "life threatening injures," according to the Seattle Fire Department.
No one else was injured in the crash.
With the bridge impassable, traffic on Aurora Avenue ground to a halt as the Seattle police investigated the accident.
The bridge reopened at about 12:30 a.m. Friday.
Perhaps ya'll should quit blaming WSDOT..a bunch of nansy pansy Seattlite whiners caused the useless, expensive anti-suicide fake fix on this bridge...not WSDOT. You can't blame them for everyhting...
The Aurora Bridge (George Washington Memorial Bridge) was opened for traffic in 1932. Â
Considering he fact that it was eighty one years ago today that it opened for treaffic,Â
it has served the community quite well.
When one actually looks at the construction date, the lanes were actually wide byÂ
the standards of that time era.
Ford had just released the Model B (basically a V8 version of the Model A) that yearÂ
and speeds were much lower than today.
I pray that all the individuals involved in this mess make full and speedy recoveries.
One might note that if you travel at the posted 40MPH limit, there will be someoneÂ
that gets angry, even if you are traveling in the slow lane. I have traveled over thatÂ
bridge frequently for over fifty years now, but the increases in traffic over thoseÂ
years have increased the dangers on the bridge several times fold. Â
The bridge was simply not designed for the traffic volume that now exist 81 yearsÂ
after it initially opened.
It's not that hard to stay in your lane at 40-45mph on that bridge. Let's wait for more information because I am willing to bet that the driver who caused the accident was drunk.Â
At least the fence saved the crash from being a lot worse. I'm glad we decided to put that up.
I feel the same way too, that bridge is too narrow to be shared by incoming and outgoing vehicles = with a maximum speed of 40mph.Â
Six hours? Really? After a couple of hours of cleanup and collecting basic information, everything else that gets done is simply fodder for civil attorneys; private gain with no public benefit.
Seriously glad you could get around to reporting it . There was ZERO information for people affected by this, and thousands of motorists were rerouted through QA and Fremont. Metro didn't have a clue other than to reroute busses. Hope that the victims recover.   Another blog said alcohol was involved. I seriously hope not.
I was lucky one morning. Someone speeding north clipped a truck sending him into my lane and was taken out by a Ford F250 truck heading south. He missed me by inches. It took me 5 tries to dial 911. Those lanes are narrow and it only takes one mistake to be very nasty. I no longer have to drive the Aurora Bridge and am thankful for it.Â
Instead of wasting the money to put up barriers to keep jumpers from committing suicide, they should spend that money in widen the damn bridge.
WSDOT planning make a 4 lane bridge into a 6 lane bridge and hope for the best..
Every time I drive the Aurora Bridge that's all I think about and I try to avoid driving in the far left lane. It's just to tight. The bridge is just not built to run six lanes and I don't understand why they don't just cut it down to four normal width lanes and put a barrier down the middle. Yeah, it would be a bit of a bottle neck. but it would sure be a lot more safe. As it is now, trucks and buses just don't really fit in the lanes.
@chuckh0308Â What you said is exactly why I avoid that bridge.Â
@PrairieDawn @chuckh0308  Yeah, the lanes are just stupid narrow and traffic moves at highway speeds. I'm actually surprised there isn't a fatality accident on there at least once a week.
My heart goes out to the man and his family.Â
That bridge is a nightmare. Spend millions on a silly fence and nothing on making the bridge safer.. Nice work DOT!
Gah, I hate that center lane!
@mountains Yeah, I don't know why WSDOT doesn't put up a barrier in the middle. They already spent millions on the suicide-proof fence on the bridge.
@MyTacoma @mountains The problem is there isn't room for a barrier in the current configuration. The lanes are already narrow. They need to reduce the bridge to four lanes and put the barrier in. I'm usually not a fan of removing travel lanes, but in this case it really needs to be done and should have been done many years ago.
@chuckh0308 @MyTacoma @mountains Or maybe 5 lanes with 3 headed South cuz it always seems worse headed south than north, at least from my experience. But yeah, spend millions trying to save people who want to end their lives, but do nothing for the people who are just trying to cross the damn bridge safely. Doesn't make sense.
Hard to see how anyone would come out of the pickup still alive. Hope he makes it. Doesn't get much better than Harborview Medical center.
@al_wa Amen to that!!