Accident Report Detail

​About 9:25 p.m. on February 23, 1975, an automobile struck a vital structural member of the Yadkin River Bridge near Siloam, North Carolina. The collision occurred in heavy fog. Following the impact, the bridge collapsed and both the automobile and the bridge fell into the river. Six more vehicles vaulted into the collapse zone within a 17-minute period. Four-persons were killed and 16 were injured.

​The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the bridge collapse was the penetration of the timber railing by the vehicle and its subsequent impact with and crushing of a vital MP structural member of the bridge truss. The timber railing was not adequate to sustain impact at posted speeds.