text: A mother, father and their eight-month old baby boy were killed on Monday when a concrete barrier fell onto their truck as they were driving under an overpass in Washington State. The tragic accident claimed the lives of Josh and Vanessa Ellis and baby Hudson, who were crushed when the 50-foot-long concrete slab slammed down on top of them, according to Bonney Lake Police. The barrier weighed 'tons' according to investigators and the damage to the family's pickup truck was so great that it took them hours to extract the bodies. Scroll down for video . Tragic accident: Josh and Vanessa had been married for five years and their baby boy Hudson was only eight months old at the time of the crash . Community: Josh and Vanessa were both youth pastors at the EastPointe FourSquare Church in Bonney Lake . Demolished: This picture show the complete devastation the concrete block wrought on the family pickup truck . Clean-up: A car drives on Angeline Road under the state Route 410 overpass, Tuesday, April 14, 2015, the day after a young couple and their son were killed when a concrete slab fell from the overpass . Poignant: A cross, a stuffed animal and flowers are shown at a makeshift memorial for Josh and Vanessa Ellis and baby Hudson who were killed on . Scene: Josh, Vanessa and baby Hudson were crushed to death after a concrete slab fell from a construction site on a Washington state bridge and landed on their truck. Above, the crushed vehicle . Fatal: The married couple and their baby were driving underneath the state's Route 410 overpass in Bonney Lake - where workers were installing a sidewalk - on Monday morning. Above, the scene . Shockingly, authorities thought that only one person had been killed by the impact, but discovered to their horror that an entire family had been crushed to death according to KIRO TV. While America once had the world's best road and transportation network system, but now it is crumbling. Indeed, according to a former US Transport Secretary, Ray LaHood said there are 70,000 bridges that have been deemed structurally deficient across the nation. LaHood made this damning statistic abundantly clear when he told CBS News, 'I don't want to say they're unsafe. But they're dangerous. I would agree with that.' Moreso, every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) releases its comprehensive assessment of the state of US infrastructure. In its most recent one, from 2013, it gave the nation a grading of D+. Across the United States there are 607,380 bridges according to the ASCE and they have an average lifespan of 42 years. Out of those bridges, one in nine is considered to be structurally problematic. Chief among those are the Storrow Drive Bridge in Boston, which has cement too thick for its steel structure to continue supporting and the US Route 1/9 Bridge over the Passaic River in New Jersey, which is rusted. One of the reasons why things have got so bad is due of course to dwindling investment. From 1950 to the 1990s, the investment in infrastructure across the nation stood at two percent of GDP. That fell to 1.5 percent in 2012. As a comparison China spends seven percent of its GDP on infrastructure and India, five percent. So large is the problem, that experts have said that either an upsurge in money to rebuilding the nation is needed, or the country will begin to suffer huge problems over the next generation. Source: The Week/CBS . Bonney Lake police Officer Todd Green told the New York Daily News that the Ellis family would likely have died on impact and not known much about the accident. He said he was confident about this assessment because they found no break marks under the bridge, leading him to believe they had no warning. 'This is a very unfortunate and sad circumstance, especially in a town this size,' Green said. 'This is something that will hit our community big time.' The couple celebrated their five year wedding anniversary in early March and were pastors at their local church. At the time of the incident, construction crews were working on the sidewalk installation project, it is reported. When they finally managed to reach the damaged truck, they found the victims inside. 'We were just heading down the street ... and I could hear three snaps and down it went on top of the truck,' witness Dawn Nelson, who was riding in a car behind the pickup, told KING-TV. She added: 'There was nothing anyone could do. It was just surreal.' It remains unknown what caused the 'very heavy' concrete structure to fall, King 5 reported. City spokesman Woody Edvalson said the material that fell in Bonney Lake - situated around 30 mile southeast of Seattle, Washington - was part of the original span, which was built in 1992. It has a sufficiency rating of 95.3 out of 100, according to The News Tribune. Investigation: A worker takes photographs under the state Route 410 overpass on Tuesday, the day after a young couple and their son were killed . Workers on-site: As the family drove under the overpass, a chunk of concrete fell onto the roadway, crushing their pickup truck. Above, workers are pictured at the scene, shortly after the family of three were killed . Press conference: Above, Todd Green, center, of Bonney Lake Police Department, is seen talking to reporters on Monday . Construction for a $1.8 million city sidewalk project to improve pedestrian access along the highway started about a month ago. The contractor WHH Nisqually had crews on the scene on Monday. 'The project was to add a pedestrian walkway along that overpass on SR 410,' Mr Edvalson told reporters following Monday's tragedy, adding: 'This accident occurred as a result of that effort.' The project included rebuilding the north side of the bridge, adding a sewer line, widening SR 410 between the bridge and 192nd Avenue, and adding bases for future street lights, it is reported. Bonney Lake police, the state Department of Transportation and WHH Nisqually are investigating. Bridge: Construction for a $1.8 million city sidewalk project to improve pedestrian access along the highway (pictured in 2012) started about a month ago. The contractor WHH Nisqually had crews on the scene Monday .
target: Josh and Vanessa Ellis and baby Hudson were traveling in Washington state on Monday .
  As the local pastors were driving under Route 410 overpass, a slab of concrete fell off bridge .
  It landed on their pickup truck, crushing vehicle and killing entire family .
  Construction workers were installing sidewalk on the bridge at the time .
  Police say the family 'would have known nothing about it' as the concrete came down so fast and quick .