Barge Allides with 1960 Pelican Island Causeway on May 15, 2024, Causing an Oil Spill

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

This bridge is the only vehicle access to the island. The rail bridge has not been used for a long time. No one was injured. Although two deckhands went into the water, but they were quickly rescued.

Keith Johnson, May 2024

abc13
It happened around 10:00am May 15, 2024. When you watch the video, you can see that there is a strong current flowing past the barge. There are no residents on the island [actually, there are a few] and Texas A&M already had their graduation.
"The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is shut down for approximately 6.5 miles between marker 350.5 to 357 as officials respond to this incident, County Judge Mark Henry said, adding that the oil spill is heading in that direction, so the U.S. Coast Guard decided to move forward with the closure."

abc13
They reopened the bridge "allowing drivers to pass the bridge one by one, at about 20 feet apart." But at about 6pm evacuations were cancelled " because the bridge was 'unstable' and 'handrails and concrete were seen shifting.'" At 8pm, people were again allowed to leave the island, but no one could enter the island. Traffic to leave was still congested by 9pm.

abc13
"Officials told ABC13 that two crew members on the ship were either thrown or jumped off, but they were rescued quickly. Emergency management leaders confirmed with ABC13 that there were less than 200 people on the island when the incident happened. Vacuum gas oil is leaking from the barge, which has a capacity of 30,000 gallons and is operated by Martin Operating Partnership."
"The causeway itself is 3,239 feet long [987m] with a span of 164.1 feet [50m]."
Plans were already underway to replace the bridge because it was built in 1960 and "is at the end of its functional life." Construction was planned to begin in Summer 2025.

abc13
The barge broke loose from its towboat. One of the towboats in this image was handling the barge and the other had been sent to help retrieve the barge.
"Officials say the liquid is vacuum gas oil, a heavy oil byproduct of vacuum distillation of crude oil. Honeywell, who was not involved in this incident, describes VGO as 'a key feedstock for fluid catalytic crackers used to make transportation fuels and many other by-products.'"

 

I did find one photo on a page that was updated at 9pm that showed an oil boom deployed around the leaking end of the barge. [click2houston]

The railroad bridge is in the foreground.

Chloe Tess Tan, Jan 2024

Patrick Feller Flickr via BridgeHunter, License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)

Street View, Mar 2024

Today is the 10th Anniversary of this Blog

As the title indicates, I've been blogging about industrial history for 10 years now. I've written 4,008 posts in this blog and 3,418 posts in my other major blog, Towns and Nature. I retired May 2, 2014, learned about blogspot from a daughter, bought a DSLR camera kit at a Mother's Day sale at JCPenney and published my first post on May 15, 2014.

[I'm not acknowledging the website because, according to my security software, it has a threat.]

The most viewed post is "Boiler Explosion of C&O T-1 #3020 on May 1948" with 33.5k views. That was not a big surprise, but the second most viewed post, "BNSF Color Schemes (Liveries) and Railfanning" at 12.6k views is a surprise. Coming in third with 10.1k views is "1967 Big Muskie (Bucyrus-Erie 4250-W) Dragline Crane."

I normally don't pay attention to the stats because the blog is not monetized and because they don't make sense. As an example, here is the post summary:

And here is the information for the top post. Note that the above list gives a figure of 33.5k but below we see 40.5k.

I belong to several Facebook groups, and they have proven to be a significant source of material. So significant that I spend hours each day, seven days a week, working on the blog, but I can't keep up. You don't see most of my work because with over 7000 posts, most of the photos are being added to existing posts. And I work on fixing problems that I find when I add a photo to an existing post. The problems range from errors to duplicate posts to opportunities for more cross links to formatting issues.

I could write a lot about new versions of software being significantly worse than their previous versions, spam comments, trying to understand the terms of usage for websites, outages of Federal government run websites, many inappropriate Facebook suggestions, the loss of the Bridge Hunter site, a firmware bug in my new desktop computer, etc.; but I'll spare both of us some time and not write anymore about the aniversary.

1910-34 Rock Island Southern Interurban Bridge over Pope Creek near Viola, IL

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

Retro Quad Cities posted
The Rock Island Southern Railway Company ran this interurban car between downtown Rock Island and downtown Monmouth.  Here it is shown crossing the Pope Creek and at one time, this bridge was the longest of its type in the United States.

Brad Hilligoss: Why was it so high.

Russ Bieri: About a mile south of Burgess IL.

Dudley Fowler: Russ Bieri north

Jim McAtee: Dudley Fowler no…Pope Creek is south of Burgess

Dudley Fowler: Jim McAtee wrong

[I wonder what they mean by "type." Judging from a satellite image, it was just about 1000' (305m) long. There had to be longer wooden trestles than that. Maybe they mean interurban wooden trestle.]

Dennis DeBruler answered Brad's question
Pope Creek cut a canyon through there. 1923 Alexis Quad @ 62,500

 

Dennis DeBruler commented on Jim McAtee's comment
Pope Creek is north of Burgess. The diagonal line of trees is where the trestle crossed.
 https://www.google.com/maps/@41.1622371,-90.6342383,1446m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu

1898 Green (Jackson Ave. and SW 5th Street) Bridge over Raccoon River In Des Moines, IA

(Archived Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; HAER; Satellite, 70 photos)

"Built 1898; closed to traffic in 1993; rehabilitated 1998 and 2016 for pedestrian usage" This 401' (122m) long bridge has a longest span of 135' (41m). [BridgeHunter]

 

HAER IOWA,77-DESMO,27--9 (CT)
3/4 VIEW FROM NORTHWEST - Southwest Fifth Street Bridge, Spanning Raccoon River at Southwest Fifth (Jackson) Street, Des Moines, Polk County, IA

"Significance: The Southwest Fifth Street Bridge ranks among Iowa's most significant vehicular spans. It is one of Iowa's few remaining pinned Pratt through trusses with three or more spans. As one of only three pinned through trusses located in an urban setting, the Southwest Fifth Street Bridge is exceptionally important in its representation of early urban wagon bridge construction. The controversies which surrounded the construction of the bridge also illuminate patterns of development in Des Moines and the nature of bridge contracting at the turn of the century." [HAER_data]

Street View, Aug 2018

Street View, May 2023

Bob Dover posted

On the southern fringe of downtown Des Moines, Iowa, crossing the Raccoon River, is the Fifth Avenue Bridge, also called the Jackson Street Bridge, and more widely known in Des Moines as the Green Bridge. The Green Bridge was constructed in 1898 as a roadway bridge leading to southern suburbs of the city. The bridge was abandoned in the 1990s, rehabilitated, and then reopened as a pedestrian and bicycle-only bridge in 2016, becoming the fourth pedestrian bridge connecting trails in downtown Des Moines. Consistent with its name, the bridge is freshly painted dark green, with a black steel railing and wooden deck.

Des Moines is located at the confluence of two rivers, so the presence of bridges is not unexpected. However, the creative manner in which they have re-purposed multiple older bridges into pedestrian bridges, constructed now pedestrian bridges, and then added brilliantly-colored lighting at night, is a pleasant surprise.

This confirms that it is a pin-connected truss bridge. (I found photos before I found the HAER document.)

jeff hall, May 2023

jeff hall, Oct 2021

Ray K (Southside_Ray), Aug 2018

1894+1940s+1981 CN/Milwaukee Bridge over Lake DuBay and 1942 DuBay Dam on Wisconsin River near Knowlton, WI

Bridge: (no Archived Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Dam: (Satellite)

Leighton Hiller posted
My uncle lived just south of this bridge crossing Lake DuBay between Knowlton & Dancy, WI.  As a kid, I remember thinking the shared bridge was very cool.  Also remember the signs warning not to drive on the bridge while a train was crossing.
Found this page about it too. https://issuu.com/rj200/docs/dubayonline2010/s/11129533

John Strom: The other end (north end) had a curve leading onto it via car, my Dad Hated this bridge

Today's bridge:

Street View, Aug 2022

Street View, Aug 2022

issuu
The original truss was built in 1894, and later the roadway on cantilevered beams was attached. The highway, not just the bridge, was single lane! "Automobile drivers had to be extra wary because often, a wayward log slid off a rail car gondola and onto or in front of an unsuspecting car. This bridge was closed in 1979. The new highway bridge and reconstructed railroad bridge was completed in 1981."

I find it hard to believe that the pin-connected bridge made it to 1979. In fact, this part of the Wisconsin River was flooded by the DuBay Dam. and, according to the topo map below, a separate road bridge was built by 1956. I could not find any info on the bridge that had to be built in the 1940s when the lake was created by the dam.

1956 Stevens Point Quad @ 48,000

Topo maps label this railroad as Milwaukee. Wisconsin Central must have bought it when Milwaukee went bankrupt because issuu indicates WC was the owner. And because it is now owned by CN instead of CP.

issuu
The bridge has a 7' (2.1m) clearance.

.

DuBay Dam

Deidre Light, Apr 2022

The dam was built by an electric company in 1942 without a proper permit from the Federal government. [newspapers_lawsuit] 

But now it does have a proper license, and the capacity is 7.2mw. The "head of water" is 25.5' (7.8m). [wmcpf]

The dike is 1.3 miles (2.1km) long. [newspapers_7000-acre_lake]

The structural height is 40' (12.2m), and the width of the spillway is 330' (100m) with 11 Tainter gates. The hydraulic height is 31' (9.4m). [uslakes] 

What is "hydraulic height" vs. "head of water?" I would have thought they were the same, but the sources give different numbers.

 

Deidre Light, Apr 2022

Satellite

Three SOO Crossings over Mississippi River and CN Steam Locomotive

1909 Blanchard Dam: (Archived Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite, it is now a trail)

1905,1936 Camden Place: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

They shared the Great Northern Bridge for their southern crossing of the Mississippi. Since that would have been for passenger trains, that crossing is no longer used.

See "The Rest of the Story" below as to why I researched three bridges at the same time.

Michael Kam posted
Crossing the Soo Line Bridge over the Mississippi, 12:50p [May 3, 2024]
[CPKC Empress 2816 heading to Chicago for a May 8 exhibition.]

Digitally Zoomed

.

Blanchard Crossing Bridge

BridgeHunter_blanchard
"Built in 1908 as part of the line from Brooten to Duluth; railline discontinued in 1993; rehabilitated for recreational use in 2006; reopened as a bike trail in 2007"

.

Camden Place Bridge

The bridge is 904' (276m) long with a main span of 125' (38m). [BridgeHunter_1905]

River View, Sep 2016

I presume they used a suspended steel girder span to increase the clearance over a navigation channel.

River View, Sep 2016

Street View, Jun 2019

The Rest of the Story

When I read the description on the Facebook post at the top of these notes, I did a search of the blog for the labels "wwMiss,rrWC", and got an empty result. So I did some research and found a Soo map.

Huntington

Since the Soo crossed the Mississippi in three places, I wrote a comment on the post asking for the location of the bridge in the photo. Unfortunately, when I submitted the comment, I got:

When I clicked the "Try again," I got the same result. After a few times, I was implementing the definition of insanity. (Keep trying the same thing with an expectation of a different result.) And then it would just hang with a "spinning circle." So I went on to plan B: document all three bridges. The crossing at Bowlus was easy.

For the two crossings at Minneapolis, I started with a "Minneapolis South" topo. I could not find any Soo tracks in that quadrant, so I got a "Minneapolis North" topo. That was a winner.

1952 Minneapolis North Quad @ 24,000

Satellite

Because of the suspended steel girder span in the middle of the bridge, it is easy to conclude that the Soo Line Bridge is the bridge in the photo. Camden Place is the northern neighborhood of Minneapolis. Since the Soo tracks are not labeled in the "Minneapolis South" topo, I got the topos "New Brighton" and "St Paul West," but I could not find the southernmost crossing in them. I suspected that they shared a bridge with someone else for their passenger service to Minneapolis and St Paul depots. Then John Marvig in Bridge Hunter and Historic Bridges provided the information that, indeed, the track going south in the "Minneapolis North" map connected to the Great Northern route across the Mississippi River.

Facebook Event
The train pulled by the steam locomotive is scheduled to be in Chicagoland on May 8, 2024.

The train left Calgary and is on its way to Laredo.

cpkcr

The Empress 2816 is a Hudson (4-6-4) type locomotive.

kuula

BNSF/Santa Fe Hell Canyon Bridge near Drake, AZ

(Archived Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

 

Photo taken by Alexander D. Mitchell IV in May 2008 via BridgeHunter

Dave Blaze Rail Photography posted

Santa Fe...All The Way!

Today's repost features a southbound (timetable west) BNSF stack train heading for Phoenix crossing the famed Hell Canyon Bridge led by a pair of GEs dressed in the sharp H2 scheme. 

This is about MP 21.6 on modern day BNSF's Phoenix Sub (measured from Ash Fork).  The 646 long single track bridge over dry Limestone Canyon was built by Santa Fe predecessor Santa Fe, Prescott & Phoenix Railway in 1901 and still proudly proclaims the name of BNSF's predecessor to the few travelers that pass by on dusty lonely parallel County Road 71. 

Unincorporated Drake 

Yavapai County, Arizona 

Friday May 18, 2012 

Tim Shanahan shared

1908 Aban/Milwaukee Bridge over Clark Fork River at St Regis, MT

(Archived Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

John Harker posted two images with the comment: "James C Herold caught this Milw west bound freight crossing the Clark Fork River at St Regis, Montana on July 5, 1973.  The Milw power included GP40 2058, U36C 8501 and another GP40.  This view looks to the southeast.  The bridge is still in place except for the west end in the foreground which has been dismantled over the road.  Attached is a recent aerial map for reference.  John Harker photo editing and collection."

Jessica Wray: I believe the removed girders from this bridge were used to rebuild the MRL 2nd Sub bridge over the Yellowstone River after its collapse last summer [Summer of 2023].

1

2

The BNSF locomotives in the lower-right corner are on the former Northern Pacific. That route had been operated by Montana Rail Link, but I have read that BNSF has taken that route back from them.

Street View, Sep 2008

BridgeHunter copy of Flickr Photo

1930 Lincoln Highway Bridge over Susquehanna River between Wrightsville and Columbia, PA

1896: (Archived Bridge Hunter)

1930: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; HAER; Satellite, 726 photos)

US-30 has been rerouted over the Wrights Ferry Bridge, which is a little upstream from here. This bridge is now called the Veterans Memorial Bridge and carries PA-462.

Historic Bridges rates the historical significance of this bridge as 10+10. "The bridge was the longest multi-span concrete arch bridge in the world when built, and even today it at the very least remains among the longest examples. In addition to its jaw-dropping 28 arch spans each spanning an impressive 185 feet, an additional 20 approach spans (mostly curved t-beams) complete the bridge which is over a mile long in total length....As of 2022, this bridge is slated for a major rehabilitation." [HistoricBridges]

HAER PA,36-COL,1--14 (CT)
3/4 VIEW FROM SOUTHWEST. - Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge, Spanning Susquehanna River at Lincoln Highway (State Route 462), Columbia, Lancaster County, PA

"Significance: When it was dedicated on Armistice Day, 1930, the ColumbiaWrightsville Bridge was the longest multiple-arch concrete bridge in the world. Twenty-eight three-ribbed open-spandrel reinforced concrete arches, each spanning 185'-0", carry the bridge across the Susquehanna between Lancaster and York counties. Another twenty spans make up the bridge's 6657'-0" total length. The span's construction was innovative because it involved the cooperative effort oftwo counties. Four bridges preceded this span at this historically important river crossing. The ColumbiaWrightsville Bridge was designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1984, and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1988." [HAER_data]

Bob Dover posted

Almost unknown except to locals, no longer carrying a major highway, not located near any big city or major tourist sites, the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge in Pennsylvania is a hidden gem. The bridge crosses the Susquehanna River between York and Lancaster, Pennsylvania, approximately 50 miles west of Philadelphia and 50 miles north of Baltimore. The current bridge was opened in 1930, and it is the fifth generation bridge at what is one of the most important and eventful river crossings in the early United States.

In 1863, the second bridge at this location was the focus of one of the most consequential events in United States history. In trying to reach Harrisburg in 1863, the Confederate Army needed to cross the Susquehanna River, which is one of the widest rivers in the eastern United States. While the full Army was moving eastward into Gettysburg, detachments were sent further forward to secure the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge. These detachments cut the Northern Central Railway line at Hanover Junction 30 miles east of Gettysburg, captured the town of York, and then on June 28, 1863, reached the shore of the Susquehanna an additional 13 miles further east at Wrightsville. They were too late. The wooden bridge was burned by Union troops, foiling the Confederate advance, and giving the Union’s Army of the Potomac time to reach Gettysburg and begin the battle three days later. If the Confederate Army had succeeded in capturing the bridge, they likely would have continued on to Harrisburg and threatened Philadelphia, possibly resulting in a different outcome of the Civil War.

Street View, Aug 2022

This exposure more clearly shows the piers of a former bridge.

Street View, Nov 2021

I presume the now abandoned piers held this bridge.

Wikipedia, Public Domain

"Built in 30 days in 1896 to be "temporary" replacement for destroyed covered bridge, with intent of road being added to upper level; neither replacement nor upper deck ever built. Removed 1964" [BridgeHunter_1896]

We can see both bridges when they dedicated the new one.

dedication, p19, cropped

dedication, p24

dedication, p25

A history of the previous bridges starts on p29 of dedication and construction starts on p40.