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photo by Marcus Frazier
Inspection teams check a Mississippi River bridge and barges Tuesday after some two dozen barges broke loose here while being pushed upriver, officials said. There were no reports of injuries and the heavily traveled U.S. 84 bridge remained open.
All barges recovered; cause of accident investigated
Published Wednesday, April 30, 2008
NATCHEZ — After spending the night wrapped around the piers of the Mississippi River Bridge, three barges, broken free from a fleet the night before, were removed on Tuesday evening.
Their recovery, while uneventful, marked the end of full-scale barge wrangling effort that began the night before.
Coast Guard Lt. Teresa Hatfield said barges were recovered from approximately 20 miles away.
On Monday at approximately 9 p.m., a 24-barge fleet traveling south on the river struck the bridge’s pier sending unmanned barges floating downstream.
One of the barges struck a stationary barge belonging to a cement company and another struck the Grand Soleil Casino, under construction at the Natchez-Adams Port.
Grand Soleil’s marketing director Baxter Lee said one of the tugboats needed to reposition the casino boat against the port’s dock was unavailable on Monday and casino officials had limited access to the boat.
Lee said the casino will be repositioned at the dock today and the boat will be inspected.
It was initially believed that the barge strike had caused the casino to fill with water, however this was later found not to be the case, Lee said.
But what exactly caused the barges to collide with the bridge is still unknown.
All of the barges and the tugboat, the Robert N. Stout, involved in Monday’s accident are owned by Ingram Barge Company.
Ingram spokesman Keel Hunt said at the time of the accident the barges and tugboat were being operated by Inland Marine Services.
Inland President Dave Hammond said the cause of the accident was still under investigation on Tuesday.
Hammond said a “root cause analysis,” could be ready in as little as two days.
While Hammond would not name the tugboat’s captain, he did say he was very grateful no one was injured in the accident.
Hatfield said no other damage aside from the casino was reported.
For a portion of the day one of the 24 barges could not be accounted for but was later found.
Hunt said of the stray fleet some were tank barges, carrying liquids, some carried dry cargo and others, like the ones tangled on the bridge, were empty.
“There were no spills,” he said.
Hunt said he was unaware of what most of the barges were hauling.
On Monday, before the barges could be removed, Adams County Civil Defense Director, Stan Owens, and officials from the Mississippi Department of Transportation inspected the bridge.
MDOT’s executive director Butch Brown said impact on the bridge, like Monday’s, are not cause for concern since the bridge is built with their likelihood in mind.
While MDOT officials could not be reached, Owens said initial reports have revealed no cause for concern.
Coast Guard Master Chief Stuart Slech said traffic on the river is expected to be flowing normally by today.
Slech said river traffic had to be closed while all of the barges were re-assembled into a fleet.
The wake generated by passing vessels during the period of re-assembly would have made gathering the fleet more difficult and provide conditions conducive to loosing barges again Slech said.
Comments
Posted by ITSME (anonymous) on April 30, 2008 at 12:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
MDOT’s executive direcort
Posted by sayitloud (anonymous) on April 30, 2008 at 6:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"While Hammond would not name the tugboat’s captain, he did say he was very grateful no one was injured in the accident."
Why no name?
Posted by MamaC (anonymous) on April 30, 2008 at 7:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
He's probably kin tot he Captain! Anyway, I want to know "FOR SURE" that our bridge wasn't damaged. They need to do a good inspection!
Posted by sayitloud (anonymous) on April 30, 2008 at 8:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Whether or not concrete gets stronger with age as someone said before, I kinda wonder if that holds true when under water for decades.
Posted by moyah45 (anonymous) on April 30, 2008 at 8:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
it is a blessing that no one was injured when this happened, and i think that the guys that clean them up in the aftermath risk their lives as well. I for one am very proud of our little fleet, thanks guys job well done!
Posted by freedom42 (anonymous) on April 30, 2008 at 8:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
They are not going to release the name until the investigation in complete. Same as a criminal investigation.
Posted by lowrider (anonymous) on April 30, 2008 at 8:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Democrat which is it, were they traveling upriver, or going south, which would be down river???
Inspection teams check a Mississippi River bridge and barges Tuesday after some two dozen barges broke loose here while being pushed upriver, officials said. There were no reports of injuries and the heavily traveled U.S. 84 bridge remained open.
On Monday at approximately 9 p.m., a 24-barge fleet traveling south on the river struck the bridge’s pier sending unmanned barges floating downstream.
Posted by obamayamama (anonymous) on April 30, 2008 at 9:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thanks Democrat for the good pictures and footage!
Posted by Hardcorps (anonymous) on April 30, 2008 at 9:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
lowrider day mussa ben gwine cross da ribber. Mayhaps day lef da iron on in Baton Rouge and wuz turnin round ta go turns it off.
Posted by lowrider (anonymous) on April 30, 2008 at 10:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree with you Hardcorps, I couldn't have said it better myself.
Posted by harvest1 (anonymous) on April 30, 2008 at 12:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I see you read a lot Hardcorps.
Posted by sayitloud (anonymous) on April 30, 2008 at 4:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yal are tooooo nutty.
Posted by sammohon (anonymous) on May 1, 2008 at 9:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
sayitloud...just in case you come back here...I'm the one who said concrete gets stronger with age, which is a fact. Technically, concrete is not a solid, it is a gel, which continues to get harder with age. As it gets stronger in compressive strength, which is what concrete is used for, it also gets more brittle in tensile or stretching strength. That's what the steel reinforcing is for.
50, 100, even 500 hundred year old concrete is one of the toughest building materials known to man. It's incredibly difficult to demolish even intentionally. Yes, it is as strong underwater as above unless somehow water gets to the reinforcing steel causing it to lose its tensile strength.
The nominal factor of safety for any engineering project is 3, meaning that you find out what is necessary for all the predictable loads that may occur, including, but not limited to traffic, people, weight of beams, girders, roadway, earthquake, wind, etc. even collisions with barges and create a design to meet those requirements. After that is done you then multiply the solution, in other words, strengthen the structure by a factor of 3...in some cases 4 or 5.
It would take something almost unthinkable to take down the bridge's piers. You should be more worried about the steel superstructure rusting if it's not maintained properly. Feel safer now?
Posted by sayitloud (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 6:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
WOW! I am speechless Sam. All I can seem to say is You Da man!
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