Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington has allocated $150K for a marketing and PR push to support local economies severely affected by the May 23 collapse of an interstate highway bridge, which garnered national attention after it was captured on video.

Dramatic footage of the Interstate-5 bridge collapsing and cars plunging into the Skagit River lead newscasts and rapidly spread online late last week. It has also sparked a media dialogue on the country's crumbling infrastructure.

Inslee, who had lunch with his wife in nearby Mount Vernon to highlight that the area is open for business, directed $150K from a state economic development reserve account on May 28 to launch a "regional media and communications plan" as the 58-year-old bridge's closure damaged the local economy on an important Memorial Day weekend for tourism.  He said the PR effort, to be coordinated through chambers of commerce and tourism organizations, will "inform the public that area businesses and attractions are open and easily accessible."

USA Today sampled editorials from six regional and national news outlets to find dismay that the accident could occur six years after a deadly bridge collapse in Minneapolis, as well as encouragement for the federal government to allocate funds for infrastructure, which, the Huffington Post notes, were actually cut in the sequester budget fray.

No one was killed in the collapse, which is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.