Bridge falls on boat in Florida

[FootballFan]

Ran onto a mention of this on a different site, thought it would be interesting if you have not seen it.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article4247864.html


Broad Causeway in Miami.

We went through there a couple of times the last time we were there. If I am not mistaken about which bridge this is, the operator would only raise one side of the Bascule bridge. Not sure if it was related or not to the crashing. Maybe they knew it was worn out.

 

[Big Island Lifer]

That'll buff out.

 

[FootballFan]

Wondering if it will close down the aICW through there. I looked it up on AC, it is the bridge I was thinking about, just south of Baker Haulover Inlet. It is the first bridge that has to open when we are going south.

 

[jitts3]

Am I the only one noticing that the boat doesn't seem to be holding up the "fallen" bridge as it is not leaning under the weight? Or did the tugs pull her in early?

 

[Yzfspike]

Obviously written by a non boater - "authorities were not sure how badly the bridge might have been damaged."

What about the nice boat underneath the bridge!

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article4247864.html#storylink=cpy"
​

 

[FootballFan]

So this is probably much more interesting to me than anyone else. For me it is a local bridge that I transit, so following the news story.

News today is saying that the span did not "drop" on the boat underneath, rather lowered at a normal speed while the boat was passing through. The person being interviewed stopped short of saying that the bridge operator lowered the span by mistake - and said they are still investigating whether it was mechanical or human failure.

They did say the bridge operator should be complimented for not panicking as the bridge span lowered onto the boat underneath - that you can't easily stop the lowering process mid stream. I guess that's a good thing the bridge operator didn't panic... .

The bridge is operational through one span only as of today. 22' of horizontal clearance with only one span open. Since that's the only way I have transited the bridge, that's all I have experienced. It does have a bit of pucker factor when the wind is blowing.

 

[jitts3]

That would explain why the boat wasn't leaning from the weight of the bridge. Its holding itself up.

 

[davidh82]

So this is probably much more interesting to me than anyone else. For me it is a local bridge that I transit, so following the news story.

I usually launch my boat from Haulover at least once a week, so that is a local bridge for me as well. I don't have to worry about clearance with my 240, but I do have to wonder what would happen to that portion of the ICW when they perform the major upgrades.

The article linked above mentions an $11.5 million dollar project to upgrade the bridge starting in January. Any thoughts on how that will affect the ICW traffic around that bridge?