MV Delta Mariner Strikes KY Bridge - Bridge Collapses

W. T. F? First, sea-going vessels on Kentucky Lake?! Rocket engines?! What the hell is going on in my world?

The maritime vessel Delta Mariner struck the U.S. 68 bridge (the Eggner's Ferry Bridge, the western entrance to Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area) collapsing two spans. At least one of the spans appears to be tangled on the bow of the ship. Apparently, no one was injured.

You know somebody's gonna have a long day when you see pics like these:

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Kentucky.com article

Journal of Commerce article

Whoever works on such things were working on warning lights on the sides of the bridge, but the lights were supposedly lit on the side the ship approached from.

A few more pics, that last one might just tell the whole story.

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Merc, you've probably driven across this bridge a time or two when you were at Fort Campbell, no? I can't count the times I've crossed it (almost all of them with my eyes closed). But, I can the times I'll cross it again. 0.

Wow grav! That is some crazy shit!

That's one rusty bridge. It's an excuse to replace it.

The shipping company isn't owned by a bridge building company, is it?

This bridge and a sister bridge crossing Lake Barkley, to the east, are scheduled for replacement. Work to be started in 2011. Popdigr says they'll repair this bridge, I'm thinking they'll wait for the replacing bridge.

2800 cars a day though, so who knows.

I had no clue boats of that size were on the Tennessee River.

How can a ship that size not have navigation charts with clearance?!
Unless he was on an unscheduled route like Francesco Schettino.

Gravdigr;791082 wrote:

...
Merc, you've probably driven across this bridge a time or two when you were at Fort Campbell, no? I can't count the times I've crossed it (almost all of them with my eyes closed). ...

Your driving scares me.

Dude is that the Bridge at new Johnsonville ??

Was that ship riding high in the water, so it was a collison waiting to happen ?

There is a short road, a shortcut really, that goes by some land of my dad's and has a dip under the railroad trestle. It's clearly marked, how much clearance there is, and introduced with flashing yellow light to warn.

Yet it gets hit. My dad was witness to some old couple driving I don't know what that didn't clear and they got pretty beat up. He helped them out. Said it was not good.

They're going to fix it someday. Make the road gradually getting lower so there is more clearance there.

How can you not wonder if you'll clear it or not? In the case of a car or a boat? Of course, I'm the one who slows down or stops (if visibility in one direction isn't available until right at the tracks) at train crossings because I've certainly seen the lights and gates malfunction on the side of "no train coming" so sure it could malfunction the other way as in not being activated yet guess what? TRAIN.

Being hit by a train, not clearing an underpass. These are the things that should be easily avoidable. ;)

scuse me closer to south fulton , we have customers up that way

infinite monkey;791193 wrote:

<snip>
Being hit by a train, not clearing an underpass. These are the things that should be easily avoidable. ;)

A school mate of my grandson was hospitalized after skate-boarding into
the middle of a moving train, with crossing lights and gates working properly.
The kid later claimed he did not see the train was crossing the sidewalk.

Darwin must have blinked. :headshake

Lamplighter;791199 wrote:

A school mate of my grandson was hospitalized after skate-boarding into
the middle of a moving train, with crossing lights and gates working properly.
The kid later claimed he did not see the train was crossing the sidewalk.

Darwin must have blinked. :headshake

Yikes! Was he injured?

Darwin blinks a lot. Especially for the young ones. I remember feeling invincible, doing stupid things, but I also remember things like...looking for trains!

What Sundae said. Captain of that vessel is in trououououble!

zippyt;791185 wrote:

Dude is that the Bridge at new Johnsonville ??

No, closer to Dicksburg, Peniston, and Schlongtown.;)

Sundae;791106 wrote:

How can a ship that size not have navigation charts with clearance?!
Unless he was on an unscheduled route like Francesco Schettino.

Lamplighter;791190 wrote:

Was that ship riding high in the water, so it was a collison waiting to happen ?

ZenGum;791235 wrote:

What Sundae said. Captain of that vessel is in trououououble!

The captain will prolly have to answer some tough questions. He, for whatever reason, used the 'recreational channel' instead of the 'main shipping channel'. The lower end of the span he struck was only about twenty feet off the water.

FTR, the water level was up a bit, and the ship was carrying empty rocket engine cores, so may have been riding somewhat higher than usual. It was noted this ship makes this run regularly and has for some time. Usually carries fully fueled/filled cores up from Alabama, over to the Ohio River, down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, to launch facilities in Florida, or transits the Panama Canal carrying the engines to Vandenberg in California.

zippyt;791185 wrote:

Dude is that the Bridge at new Johnsonville ??

The bridge in question is located close to nothing major.

It's about thirty miles or so east of Mayfield, KY, ten or so east of Dexter, KY. Just north of the southern Marshall County line.

Lat. 36°46'21.24"N
Long. 88° 7'12.92"W

:cool:

FTR, the water level was up a bit, and the ship was carrying empty rocket engine cores, so may have been riding somewhat higher than usual.

That may all be true, but ... someone is the captain. It's their job to be aware of that stuff and take it into account.

And someone, almost certainly not the captain, should have been on forward lookout duty. "Hey, cap'n, that bridge is at eye level..."

Oh well, we get a chuckle, and no one AFAIK got hurt. Ticked off the people who use the bridge, though, I guess.

The Eggner Ferry Bridge re-opened this past Friday. Just in time for Memorial Day weekend travelers.

I don't know how long it usually takes to replace 322 feet of bridge span, but, that seemed awfully fast to me.

I'm sure they didn't cut any corners to do it quickly. You'll be just fine using it. ;)

Oh, I'll drive across sooner or later (w/eyes shut, I don't like tall/long bridges). It was a KY company what built the span and did the construction work.

If any of us are hurt, we'll be at the company HQ by morning.:lol2:

Gravdigr;813269 wrote:

The Eggner Ferry Bridge re-opened this past Friday. Just in time for Memorial Day weekend travelers.

I don't know how long it usually takes to replace 322 feet of bridge span, but, that seemed awfully fast to me.

Wow. :eek: