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Wayward barge batters bridge

Tropical Storm Alberto tears the barge loose. Damage to the Howard Frankland Bridge is minimal, an official says.

By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published June 14, 2006

	[Times photo: Willie J. Allen Jr.]
	On tuesday, a Coast Guardsman jumps from the barge pinned to the Howard Frankland Bridge by the winds and waves from Tropical Storm Alberto. The barge broke free during the early morning. No one was injured, but an eastbound traffic lane was closed while crews removed the barge. Ironically, the barge had been helping with routine repairs to the bridge.

A barge being used to fix the Howard Frankland Bridge instead damaged the roadway after waves from Tropical Storm Alberto tore the floating platform from its moorings and rammed it into a bridge pier.

The 60-foot-long construction barge struck the eastbound span of the bridge near the Tampa approach at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. The unmanned barge then continued to thrash against the bridge for nearly six hours, grating away concrete in places and cracking part of the pier as crews scrambled to control the vessel and protect the bridge.

Officials from the Florida Department of Transportation tossed rubber tires over the side of the bridge at one point to deflect the barge's blows.

A 41-foot-long U.S. Coast Guard rescue boat eventually towed the barge away at 9 a.m. It was taken to the Port of Tampa. Two generators on the barge were crushed and a storage pod was bent by the barge's impact with the bridge.

The damage to the bridge, meanwhile, "was primarily cosmetic," said Pepe Garcia, DOT district structures and facilities engineer.

No one was hurt by the collision, and a lane of eastbound traffic was closed while crews worked to remove the barge. Engineers plan to perform an underwater inspection of the bridge when the weather improves, Garcia said.

State officials also are examining why the barge had been near the bridge in the first place.

The barge had been used as a construction platform for the past month to perform routine maintenance and repairs on the bridge, state DOT officials said.

But as Alberto approached Florida on Monday, the company performing the maintenance, M&J Construction of Tarpon Springs, moved the barge just 150 feet south of the bridge, Garcia said.

And during that move, part of the cable system that anchors the barge broke, Garcia said.

The company chose to moor the barge in its new location anyway, Garcia said. The DOT is now investigating the incident.

"We want to understand what they were thinking and why they thought that was the best location," Garcia said.

John Varlese, M&J's controller, said he didn't know where crews had decided to place the barge, or why they made that choice. He referred comment to other executives, who were not available Tuesday.

The Tarpon Springs company, which in March won a $2.2-million contract for the maintenance work, will be expected to pay for the cost of any repairs, Garcia said.

An estimate of those costs were not available Tuesday night.

Aaron Sharockman can be reached at asharockman@sptimes.com or 727 892-2273.

[Last modified June 14, 2006, 05:24:01]