One dead after SUV falls up to 100 feet near Tacoma Avenue Bridge
An unidentified man died Friday after he drove his SUV to the entrance of a closed bridge at Tacoma Avenue, went through a fence and landed 100 feet below on railroad tracks.
It was the third bridge-linked fatal accident in the past week in Pierce County.
Tacoma police spokeswoman Loretta Cool said Friday’s accident happened about 4:40 p.m. She said the driver was the only occupant of the vehicle.
“He never made it to the bridge,” she said. “He left the roadway, drove forward and through a guardrail.”
The bridge is closed for construction, and barriers block access.
“The street surface is clearly marked – it’s closed,” Cool said. “There’s plenty of signs, there’s concrete barriers. He didn’t quite make it to that.”
Cool did not identify the driver; that will wait until his family is notified. She added that the cause of the crash was under investigation.
Bystanders at the nearby Tacoma Rescue Mission said they heard the crash. One woman said she saw the car go over. A man said he and other witnesses rushed to the scene to help the driver, but swiftly saw he was beyond help.
Sound Transit said south line Sounder commuter trains would be delayed while police investigate and the tracks are cleared.
On the surface, the circumstances of the incident appear to differ from an April 10 incident in Tacoma. In that case, an 18-year-old woman died after she drove off an overpass and landed in the southbound lanes of Interstate 5.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the teen’s death an accident. Police have said investigators probably will not be able to determine what caused the wreck.
On Monday, a section of an overpass in Bonney Lake fell onto a passing pickup truck, killing Josh Ellis, 25, Vanessa Ellis, 29, and their 8-month-old son, Hudson.
The concrete slab fell from a span over state Route 410 onto Angeline Road East during work on a sidewalk construction project.
This story was originally published April 17, 2015 at 6:11 PM.