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Gandy Bridge passes its Monday traffic test

Officials are pleased with the ease of vehicles across the bridge's damaged span. Repairs will mean occasional lane closures, however.

By ABBIE VANSICKLE
Published April 3, 2006

TAMPA - Each morning Frank Johnson stands on the wooden porch of Gandy Bait & Tackle, sorting shrimp. From his perch, he can see commuters' cars snaking to and from the Gandy Bridge.

On Monday morning, five days after a barge loaded with about 1-million gallons of liquefied propane gas rammed into a beam supporting one lane of the bridge, Johnson said the traffic seemed back to normal.

"I'm out there every morning, looking right at them," he said. "I haven't noticed anything different today."

Officials had been saying the first real test of the narrowed bridge would come Monday, the first day back at work for many commuting parents who had taken off for their kids' spring break.

Officials were pleased with the results.

"A bridge engineer drove over it this morning," said state Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kris Carson. "He was just checking the traffic flow, and it was flowing smoothly. It could have been worse."

The eastbound side of the bridge has narrowed while the right shoulder, part of the right lane and the support beam are being fixed. Officials restriped the bridge, using the undamaged left shoulder to create two lanes.

Repairs are on schedule, Carson said, but officials will need to close one of the two lanes in the bridge's damaged section intermittently this week. The closings are expected to be limited to a couple of hours at a time, she said.

On Monday afternoon, workers installed a bridge beam to replace the damaged section.

One possible reason for the easy commute was that drivers chose other routes to work to avoid possible traffic snarls on the Gandy Bridge, said Rob Parker, a producer for Metro Traffic Control Inc.

"I think people got the word, you know . . . It's pretty much business as usual," he said.

The Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the crash, but its report is not expected to be released for several weeks. Coast Guard Petty Officer Tasha Tully said the local portion of the report is complete, but it will be sent to Washington, D.C., for review.

The crash occurred just after noon Thursday, when the 285-foot barge Apache slammed into the bridge. A tugboat named the Crosby Skipper was guiding the Apache, a standard liquid petroleum gas barge carrying propane gas, north through an Old Tampa Bay shipping channel.

The Apache was headed home, aiming for its Tampa terminal at 5105 W Tyson Ave. As the tug approached the Gandy Bridge, it turned right, witnesses said, prompting the tug cables to snap and setting the barge loose in a strong current flowing toward the bridge.

Damage to the Apache is "non-existent," Jim Cobb, the Louisiana attorney representing the tugboat company, said Monday after company representatives had a weekend to make assessments.

He was relieved to learn that the fixes needed for the Gandy's 48-foot beam, as well as the eastbound right shoulder and portions of the right lane, will cost between $200,000 and $250,000, according to early Transportation Department estimates.

Officials representing barge owner Targa Resources of Houston and their tug contractor, Crosby Tugs of Golden Meadow, La., plan to personally review the bridge's damage, department engineer Pepe Garcia said Friday.

Cobb said the companies expect to foot the bill.

"When moving things come into contact with stationary things," he said, "moving things pay."

The traffic on the bridge the afternoon of the crash was terrible, said Bill Robinson, 55, owner of the bait shop. He and Johnson wondered whether commuters on Monday were picking the Howard Frankland Bridge instead.

"Actually, (traffic's) probably a lot lighter because people are taking alternate routes," Johnson said.

Unfortunately, the crash hasn't slowed the speed of some cars on the bridge, he said.

"It hasn't affected the drag racing here at all," he said.

[Last modified April 3, 2006, 21:34:02]