On June 17, 1958, as a crane stretched from the north side of the new bridge to join the two chords of the unfinished arch, several spans collapsed.

Eighteen were killed either instantly or shortly thereafter, possibly drowned by their heavy tool belts.

A diver searching for bodies drowned later, bringing the total fatalities for the collapse to nineteen.

A temporary support, holding the fifth anchor span, was deemed insufficient to bear the weight.

[8] The bridge was renamed the "Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing" on June 17, 1994, to honour the eighteen workers who died in the collapse, along with one rescue diver and four other workers who also died during the construction process.