NEW ORLEANS — The collapse of the bridge in Baltimore brings back memories of similar incidents here closer to home.
So, we looked through the WWL-TV archives, and found four of the most notable disasters where barges hit local bridges.
It was the summer of 1974 when a tugboat captain fell asleep on the job in the wheelhouse. Four empty barges rammed into a section of the world's longest bridge, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. Around 260 feet of roadway were taken out. Two people lost their lives as a result. A woman driving was hit directly at the collision point. A man driving a pickup could not stop in time and was catapulted into the water below.
Just two years later, in 1976, another bridge disaster. A towboat was pushing two barges. They were loaded with oyster shells. A train was passing on the nearby railroad bridge, so the drawbridge was still closed. Sirens warned the boat traffic, but the towboat could not slow down in time. It struck the train bridge, and the Highway 51 bridge, causing it to crumble, sending a pickup, and 18-wheeler into the water. Both drivers survived.
And then in May of 1993, it was the Claiborne Avenue Bridge that was hit. A tugboat was pushing an empty barge in the canal to the Mississippi River locks when it hit a support pier. A section collapsed onto the bank and the barge. Two cars fell below. One person died, and two others were severely injured. After the bridge was rebuilt, concrete debris from the wreck was put in place to protect the new support pier from being hit in the future.
And finally, fast forward to December 1996. The bulk cargo ship MV Bright Field crashed into the Riverwalk Marketplace. It was fully loaded with grain. The U.S. Coast Guard found in its investigation, that the engine of the vessel failed due to a poorly maintained oil filter. It also found that the ship's automated warning systems were not continuously relayed to the ship's master. No one died, but 66 people were injured.
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