Concrete slab falls from Washington state highway overpass, kills young couple, infant
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A concrete slab fell from a construction site on a Washington state highway overpass on Monday, crushing a vehicle driving underneath the span and killing a young couple and a baby boy, police said.
When workers were finally able to reach the damaged pickup, they found the victims — a man and a woman in their mid-20s and an infant, Bonney Lake police said Monday night.
Fire officials initially said at least one person had been killed.
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The couple were the parents of the infant, who was 6 to 8 months old, reported The News Tribune, a Tacoma newspaper (http://is.gd/J2qOgQ). The victims were not immediately identified, but police said they were local residents.
Construction crews were installing a sidewalk on the state Route 410 overpass in Bonney Lake, when a chunk of concrete fell to the roadway below around 10:30 a.m.
It was not immediately known what caused the "very heavy" concrete structure to fall. Bonney Lake police, the state Department of Transportation and representatives from contractor WHH Nisqually were investigating.
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City spokesman Woody Edvalson said the material that fell was part of the original span, which was built in 1992 and has a sufficiency rating of 95.3 out of 100.
Bonney Lake is about 30 miles southeast of Seattle.
Construction for a $1.8 million city sidewalk project to improve pedestrian access along the highway started about a month ago. WHH Nisqually had crews on scene Monday.
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"The project was to add a pedestrian walkway along that overpass on SR 410," Edvalson said. "This accident occurred as a result of that effort."
The project included rebuilding the north side of the bridge, adding a sewer line, widening SR 410 between the bridge and 192nd Avenue, and adding bases for future street lights, according to city documents.
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Information from: The News Tribune, http://www.thenewstribune.com