North Carolina bridge incidents

Here are some of the major incidents involving North Carolina bridges in the past 40 years:

1967 A 50-foot section of a one-lane bridge over the Mitchell River in Surry County collapses under the weight of a large truck loaded with chickens. Three people are injured, and about half the chickens on the truck drown.

1975 A single-lane bridge spanning the Yadkin River in Siloam collapses after a support cable is struck by a car. Seven cars plunge into the river, and four people are killed.

1984 In Burnsville, a single-lane bridge over the Toe River between Yancy and Mitchell Counties collapses when an overloaded tractor-trailer crosses it. No one is seriously injured.

1987 Skeen's Mill Bridge, a 100-foot-long covered bridge, collapses near Asheville into the Uwharrie River.

1998 An overpass collapses onto I-40 between Hickory and Morganton after a gasoline tanker crashes and explodes beneath it. Flames from the fire melt the support beams of the bridge, causing the collapse. The driver of the tanker is killed in the crash, but no one else is injured.

2000 A pedestrian bridge spanning U.S. Highway 29 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord collapses, injuring more than 100 people. Officials blame badly corroded cables for the collapse but are unsure of how the cables became rusted.

2001 A one-lane suspension bridge near Asheville collapses under a large truck hauling magazines. No one is injured.

2004 Three vehicles are swept away by raging currents after uprooted trees wipe out a two-lane bridge over Beaver Dam Creek near Boiling Springs. One man is killed. Officials note that 10 to 12 bridges were similarly washed out during flooding from the season's hurricanes and heavy rains in the N.C. mountains.

Compiled from news reports by news researcher Brooke Cain