So unless the company lied about the height of the load, the state shares responsibility for this.

I'm not sure how to post external text but here is a bit that my boyfriend alerted me to this morning:

Officials performed a special inspection six months ago of the bridge that collapsed because there were indications it had been struck by a different vehicle.

A report released Friday says the checkup was done due to 'impact damage,' and inspectors identified tears, deformations and gouges on the northbound side of the bridge. The report also summarizes a variety of parts on the bridge that have been subjected to 'high-load' hits.

In that Nov. 29, 2012, impact, an overheight truck struck a metal overhead truss on the bridge, DOT spokeswoman Broch Bender said. An inspection crew 'thoroughly investigated and determined the bridge to be safe,' with only minor repairs required. She said those minor repairs were added to an existing list of bridge maintenance items to be completed at a future date.

[link:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2330760/Washington-Bridge-collapse-Trucker-describes-moment-disaster-unraveled.html|

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2330760/Washington-Bridge-collapse-Trucker-describes-moment-disaster-unraveled.html

It appears that the state gave the ok for the over-sized load to take that route knowing that the structure wasn't high enough and also knowing that the bridge was already damaged and slated for repair(s)...

To make a long story short, in 1978 a logger named Henry Sindt managed to rip the whole truss assembly off a bridge over the St. Joe River in Idaho after he lengthened the boom on his yarder. He put the machine on his low-boy, headed upriver doing 70 mph, got to the bridge, drove across without letting the air out of his tires...fortunately, he managed to get all the way across before the bridge fell in the river.

Jesus. I suppose officials will say, "nobody could have predicted...."

who worked for some kind of shipping company said that whenever trucks were being sent across the country, one of the first things they checked were the various clearances across the way.

Now, I only have his word to go on, and this was a couple of decades ago, so I have no idea how accurate his statement might have been. Perhaps more importantly, I have no idea what the current information would be on the clearances of overpasses would be, now, today, this year.