Incredibly a ship in wrong channel tears through bridge

Kentucky officials were scrambling Friday to determine when — or if — they would repair an 80-year-old bridge over Kentucky Lake that was ripped through by a huge ocean-going cargo ship on Thursday night.

Two sections of the Eggner Ferry Bridge, which carries U.S. 68 and Ky. 80 over the lake, were destroyed by the northbound Delta Mariner, a 312-foot ship carrying rocket components from Decatur, Ala., to Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Part of the bridge was still dangling off the bow of the Delta Mariner on Friday, but no injuries were reported on the bridge or on the ship.

Search teams in boats found no indication that vehicles fell from the bridge when the vessel struck. But Robert Parker and his wife came close.

Parker, 51, of Cadiz, said they were traveling toward home after leaving his stepson’s house in Murray. Driving in the rain along the darkened bridge about 8 p.m., he said, they suddenly noticed a 20-foot piece missing ahead.

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

Parker said he stopped his pickup within 5 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.

He said he didn’t feel the vessel strike the bridge but “felt the bridge was kind of weak.” He and his wife had to detour about 50 miles to return home .

Coast Guard officials said the vessel was in a recreational channel with less clearance than the shipping channel it should have used — where the lake depth is regularly maintained to allow for such vessels to pass. When the Delta Mariner struck, it pulled down much of a 322-foot span of the bridge.

Sam Sacco, a spokesman for ship owner Foss Maritime, said it’s too early to say what caused the collision. He said the ship made the trip many times in the past 10 years and had an experienced captain and local river pilot on board to help guide it.

But he said it appeared there was no release of pollutants and no damage to its cargo of rocket boosters used by Air Force, NASA and private companies to send satellites into space.

The ship was designed to haul the rocket components from a Boeing factory in Decatur, Ala., to Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

On Friday, both boat and vehicle traffic were blocked as Kentucky transportation officials and the Coast Guard investigated the cause of the accident and inspected the aging steel bridge. Built in the 1930s, the bridge carries about 2,800 vehicles a day between Marshall County and the Land Between the Lakes.

Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson and Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary Mike Hancock visited Friday to examine the damage on the bridge, which had been in the initial phases of a replacement effort expected to take at least five years.

“We’re assessing the situation to see whether repair is feasible. We also will be exploring whether construction of the new bridge can be accelerated,” Hancock said.

Jim LeFevre, highway department chief engineer, told The Paducah Sun that it would take awhile for the ship to be removed because it might require a crane to remove debris or free it. The ship’s owners said the crew remained on board for the time being.

Lyn Bailey, mayor of nearby Cadiz, said the loss of the bridge would add 45 minutes or longer to the drive times for residents, many of whom use the bridge to get to work in hospitals or schools or attend Murray State University. The lack of a bridge also might hurt local businesses, from restaurants to antique stores, that depend on tourists passing through to the west side of Kentucky Lake.

“It’s going to be a burden to a lot of people,” Bailey said. “We’re hoping they get this fixed as soon as possible.”

David Sutton, who owns an antique store near Cadiz, said there are “no easy answers” on deciding whether to repair or replace the bridge, but “I can’t imagine going years without this bridge. It’s really going to hurt the economy in this area.”

John Rittenhouse, manager of Kenlake State Resort Park, located near the Eggner bridge, said the incident could have some impact on tourists coming to fish on Kentucky Lake, a dammed portion of the Tennessee River. Even though it’s winter, he said, “there’s actually a fair amount of fishing going on.”

Lt. Ron Easley, public affairs officer for the Coast Guard Ohio Valley Sector, said that for now, the Coast Guard has set up a “safety zone” on Kentucky Lake between mile markers 41 and 43 to keep nonemergency boats away from the bridge.

The Transportation Cabinet was checking to see if the span of the bridge over the navigation channel can be passed under by watercraft including barges that use the busy commercial waterway.

Transportation Cabinet spokesman Keith Todd said he believes most of the navigational lights were functioning on the bridge at the time of the impact.

“Our people talked to the Coast Guard as recently as Tuesday to update them on the navigational lights, and we believe most of them were working at the time of this wreck,” Todd said.

Travis Bricky, a spokesman for the Tennessee Valley Authority, said river levels were near close to normal for this time of the year and were not likely a factor.

The bridge opened in 1932, connects Trigg County and Marshall County at the western entrance to Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. Its elevation was raised in 1943 when the Tennessee River was impounded to create Kentucky Lake.

“I encourage our citizens to remain calm and patient as our state transportation officials investigate the structure and determine next steps,” said Kentucky state Sen. Ken Winters, of Murray.

U.S .Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., also met with local officials and said in a statement that he used the bridge many times and would do what he could to help with the situation.

“I am relieved that it appears no one was hurt,” he said .

The Captain’s Quarters CQ Princess, a Louisville-based event boat, was in Kenlake Marina at the time of the crash, said Captain’s Quarters manager Amanda Jackson.

The boat was conducting bird-watching tours and set to return to Louisville next weekend. Jackson said the craft may need to change its route through Lake Barkley or wait until the Coast Guard allows river traffic to resume beneath the Eggner bridge.

Source: Chris Kenning, The Courier-Journal