WASHINGTON (TIP): The major highway bridge linking Seattle with Canada and the rest of the Pacific Northwest region collapsed Thursday evening, dumping at least a handful of vehicles and people into a river, the Washington State Patrol said. There were no immediate reports of deaths, and three people were taken to hospitals.

The fourlane Interstate 5 bridge more than half a century old collapsed about halfway between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, Trooper Mark Francis said. Francis said he did not know what caused the collapse, which came at the start of one of the country’s busiest holiday weekends of the year. Xavier Grospe, who lives near the river, said he could see three partially submerged cars, and the apparent drivers were sitting either on top of the vehicles or on the edge of open windows.

“It doesn’t look like anybody’s in danger right now,” Grospe said. The collapse came before sundown on a clear day. Helicopter footage aired by KOMO-TV in Seattle showed one rescue boat leaving the scene with one person strapped into a stretcher. A damaged red car and a damaged pickup truck were visible in the water, which appeared so shallow it barely reached the top of the car’s hood.

Kari Ranten, a spokeswoman for Skagit Valley Hospital, said two people who were injured in the collapse were en route to the facility. She said another person was being taken to a different area hospital. A man told the local Skagit Valley Herald newspaper he felt a vibration and looked in his rear view mirror to see that the part of bridge he had just crossed was no longer behind him.

“I thought something was wrong with my car at first,” he said. The collapse will raise questions about the state of the nation’s infrastructure, which has been a popular issue with President Barack Obama, who earlier this year warned against “raggedy” roads and wants to focus more money on rebuilding to improve the economy.