Freighter Collapses Section Of Bridge

[FSTargetDrone]

I guess the captain forgot to check the Maximum Height sign.

Bridge collapses in Kentucky after being rammed by hulking freighter carrying space rocket parts



By ASSOCIATED PRESS

Last updated at 7:15 PM on 27th January 2012

Incredible images emerged of a hulking freighter wearing mangled pieces of a steel bridge on its bow after a collision in southwestern Kentucky Thursday night.

In the pictures, the 312-foot Delta Mariner idles, still partially in the bridge's path, and clearly looks much too large to fit beneath the aging Eggner Ferry Bridge, which crosses the Kentucky Lake Reservoir.

The cargo vessel was carrying space rocket parts for the United Launch Alliance, intended for a vehicle that was scheduled to be shot into orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Two sections of the bridge, which is the only route across the lake and the Tennessee River, collapsed after the crash.

Unbelievably no one was injured after the collision, though one driver described the harrowing experience of slamming on his breaks and stopping just a few feet short of oblivion after finding the bridge suddenly stopped.

Robert Parker, 51, of Cadiz, Kentucky, said he and his wife were traveling northbound on the highway after leaving his stepson's house in Murray, Kentucky. They were driving in the rain along the darkened bridge around 8pm when they suddenly noticed a missing 20-foot piece of the bridge, which at that section stands at least 20 feet above the water.

'All of a sudden I see the road's gone and I hit the brakes,' he said. 'It got close.'

Mr Parker said he stopped his pickup within five feet of the missing section. Two cars behind him stopped on his bumper and he saw another car on the other side of the missing section stopped.

State officials are inspecting what's left of the bridge.

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet spokesman Chuck Wolfe says inspectors began the in-depth review of the Eggner Ferry Bridge at US Highway 68 and Kentucky Highway 80 at daylight Friday.

'At this point, we don't believe there was any loss of life,' said Keith Todd, spokesman for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.

He said there also were no injuries on board the boat. He was unable to say where the ship was traveling when it struck the bridge.

Officials said the collapse meant vehicles needing to cross the Kentucky Lake reservoir and the Tennessee River had to be detoured for dozens of miles. The Coast Guard blocked access to boat traffic at the bridge site.

Mr Parker said he didn't feel the vessel strike the bridge but "felt the bridge was kind of weak." They had to detour about 50 miles to return home to Cadiz.

Officials say about 2,800 vehicles travel daily on the bridge, which was due to be replaced.

Oops, huh? Pretty amazing no one was hurt. It kind of looks like there might have been enough clearance had the ship gone under the center span, but that's just a guess.

More pictures at the link.

[Sea Skimmer]

The ship makes this route all the time delivering space boosters to Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg, it can clear the center span. Traffic goes north out of Alabama to enter the Ohio-Mississippi and then head south to the open ocean. Looks like an impressive near total lack of damage on the ship; and very lucky nobody died on the collapsed span. Seems the coast guard is saying the ship used the channel intended for recreational boats and not the main shipping channel thus plowing down the lower section of bridge. Navigational lights on the bridge were not all functional.

[Count Chocula]

Well it's not like a certain Italian cruise ship's misfortunes, but missing the center span is a bit...embarassing. This won't look good in the captain's HR folder.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

The navigation lights on the bridge were not functional. The Kentucky DOT was supposed to have one lane on the bridge closed today to start repairing them. Seriously.

[cosmicalstorm]

Looks like the Tjorn bridge/Star Clipper incident we had here in Sweden in the 80's. That one killed a couple of unlucky people.

[Simon_Jester]

That's a much more serious one- it looks like the ship there rammed and took out some of the bridge supports.

Just having one of the spans knocked down is easier to fix.

[Enigma]

I'm amazed that the ship appears undamaged except for a portion of its bridge. Glad no one got hurt.

[Dartzap]

I'm amazed that bridge didnt utterly collapse. Looks like it should be condemned for the rust alone.

[LadyTevar]

They'd been talking about replacing the bridge for the past decade or so. Now would be a good time, I think.

If the navigation lights were out, this is clearly not the fault of the Captain, although one would think he'd see it wasn't the same section he normally used.

[Simon_Jester]

I'm amazed that bridge didnt utterly collapse. Looks like it should be condemned for the rust alone.

Why would it collapse?

It's steel girderwork sections resting on concrete pillars. The ship didn't hit any of the pillars, all it did was rip off a bunch of girders. I suppose the bridge could collapse when that happens, but I don't see why I'd expect it too.

[DoomSquid]

They'd been talking about replacing the bridge for the past decade or so. Now would be a good time, I think.

If the navigation lights were out, this is clearly not the fault of the Captain, although one would think he'd see it wasn't the same section he normally used.

That depends on visibility conditions, surely? Going by the story of the guy who nearly drove off the edge of the gap, it seems that visibility was very bad. It's not unreasonable to suppose that, by the time the captain realised he was in the wrong channel, it was too late to do anything about it or even stop.

[CJvR]

That's a much more serious one- it looks like the ship there rammed and took out some of the bridge supports.

Not quite, it was a steel arc bridge and the ship sailed close enough to the shore to tear down the aches.

http://www.westlands.se/dia/4315.jpg

[Simon_Jester]

Ah, I see. I misinterpreted the first picture- it looked to me like a bridge built on tall pillars, with some of the pillars knocked down.

Either way, though, I get the feeling it would be a lot easier to repair the Kentucky bridge, if anyone were so inclined. Breaking the spans of a bridge isn't nearly as damaging as destroying the main structural supports.

[LadyTevar]

That depends on visibility conditions, surely? Going by the story of the guy who nearly drove off the edge of the gap, it seems that visibility was very bad. It's not unreasonable to suppose that, by the time the captain realised he was in the wrong channel, it was too late to do anything about it or even stop.

The story says nothing about the visibility or the weather at the time. There were strong storms going through the Appalachian region at the time, so it is possible that fog or rain was present and could have contributed. But we'll never know until more information is released.

[tim31]

Looks like the Tjorn bridge/Star Clipper incident we had here in Sweden in the 80's. That one killed a couple of unlucky people.

Oh, so you want a bridge disaster war eh? Well here's our local Tasman Bridge, 1975, twelve fatalities(seven on ship, five people in four cars)

[RogueIce]

The story says nothing about the visibility or the weather at the time. There were strong storms going through the Appalachian region at the time, so it is possible that fog or rain was present and could have contributed. But we'll never know until more information is released.

It does, sort of:

Robert Parker, 51, of Cadiz, Kentucky, said he and his wife were traveling northbound on the highway after leaving his stepson's house in Murray, Kentucky. They were driving in the rain along the darkened bridge around 8pm when they suddenly noticed a missing 20-foot piece of the bridge, which at that section stands at least 20 feet above the water.

*snip*

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet spokesman Chuck Wolfe says inspectors began the in-depth review of the Eggner Ferry Bridge at US Highway 68 and Kentucky Highway 80 at daylight Friday.

Now granted it doesn't specify the exact time the ferry hit the bridge, but from this we could infer it was at night and probably in the rain.

The first part would seem to have happened relatively soon after the strike. I'm pretty sure the ferry crew noticed they hit the bridge and would have called it in, and one would assume that would trigger emergency personnel to respond to the scene with their flashing lights and closing the road. That Mr. Parker and his wife had none of that to warn them would tend to indicate they happened upon the scene before police and fire arrived.

Plus the KTC spokesman saying they'd begin their review "at daylight" is another indication this happened during the nighttime hours.

EDIT: Forgot this part:

Mr Parker said he didn't feel the vessel strike the bridge but "felt the bridge was kind of weak." They had to detour about 50 miles to return home to Cadiz.

This would also indicate that the Parkers tried crossing it at about the time of the impact.

There's also this article, where I'll quote the pertinent part:

A 300-foot-plus section of the US 68/Ky. 80 Eggner's Ferry Bridge at Kentucky Lake collapsed after being struck by a large container boat at approximately 8 p.m. Thursday, according to information from Keith Todd of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and from Trigg County officials.

So I would say that it happened at night and in poor weather.

[Sea Skimmer]

Oh, so you want a bridge disaster war eh? Well here's our local Tasman Bridge, 1975, twelve fatalities(seven on ship, five people in four cars)

That's shitty, and caused by poor ship handling I see from looking it up.

The US had a major bridge disaster like that back in 1980 when one span of the Sunshine Skyway was rammed by a freighter and collapsed with 35 deaths. One man survived when his car fell from the bridge onto the ships deck.


The cause was mainly that the bridge was built at a sharp angle across the shipping channel, rather then a 90 degree right angle crossing making navigation. The ships captain was cleared of all wrongdoing as the USCG decided collision it had been inevitable (bridge finished 1971) due to poor placement and narrow width of the bridge span, and the failure to adequately protect the bridge piers, one of which was near completely destroyed as seen in the picture. A replacement bridge was built with a right angle crossing, wider span and heavy pillings placed to deflect impacts. Now a third bridge has been built to take over in turn with an even wider span.

[phongn]

The cause was mainly that the bridge was built at a sharp angle across the shipping channel, rather then a 90 degree right angle crossing making navigation. The ships captain was cleared of all wrongdoing as the USCG decided collision it had been inevitable (bridge finished 1971) due to poor placement and narrow width of the bridge span, and the failure to adequately protect the bridge piers, one of which was near completely destroyed as seen in the picture. A replacement bridge was built with a right angle crossing, wider span and heavy pillings placed to deflect impacts. Now a third bridge has been built to take over in turn with an even wider span.

You can see the new bridge here - note the concrete "dolphins" set to defend the piers.