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Maritime Accident News

Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel hit by another barge

Posted on Sep 20, 2011

For the second time in three months, a barge struck the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

The barge was laden with rocks when it hit and damaged a concrete piling between both tunnels on the southbound span at about 3 a.m. Both spans were shut down for one hour. That was three months to the day of the previous incident when a barge broke free of its moorings and struck between both tunnels, closing the northbound lanes for four hours.

Divers inspected the underwater section of the piling. The passing lane closest to the impact was to remain closed until repairs were made.

The crew was to hold off on working Tuesday night in order to hold a safety meeting to review procedures.

The barge was moving rock as part of a remediation project to place stone around the trestles to block erosion of the bay bottom. The work is being done by Skanska, an international project development construction company. Both incidents were related to the project.

The company announced it will place extra rubber fenders on barges as a precaution for hitting the piling in the future.

After June’s accident, GPS devices were installed on barges to notify if they break free of their moorings. This had no bearing on Tuesday’s accident because the barge was being moved and did not break free of its moorings.

Source: Delmarva Now.com

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