Barges broke loose from a tugboat on the Arkansas River on Friday night, striking at least one bridge guardrail and shutting down traffic on downtown Little Rock bridges for at least 45 minutes, authorities said.
The tugboat was heading south when a barge scraped a river-level guardrail on the Interstate 30 bridge, causing the wiring that links each barge to snap loose, said Little Rock Fire Capt. Randy Hickmon and U.S. Coast Guard Operations Specialist 1st Class Rahsaan Vanterpool.
Authorities shut down traffic on the I-30, Main Street, Broadway bridges and two pedestrian spans as the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department inspected them for damage.
The Coast Guard also closed boat traffic for a 5-mile stretch for 2½ hours as other boats tugged the loose barges into a fleeting area, Vanterpool said.
No one was injured, and none of the cargo spilled into the river, he said. The number of barges the tugboat carried and that broke loose was unclear late Friday.
Bill Marlow - a Highway Department spokesman who was on the scene in North Little Rock - said 10 barges were in tow and at least two brokeoff, one striking the I-30 bridge guardrail and the Clinton Presidential Bridge guardrail in what he described as “glancing blows.” The Coast Guard said the tugboat had 12 barges, half of which got loose after a barge struck the I-30 guardrail.
Two boats helped corral the loose barges, towing four to the Bruce Oakley fleeting area, Vanterpool said. The UTV Midland, a 128-foot tugboat, was carrying grain, coal and iron from Inland Marine Service Inc., a maritime crew company based out of Hebron, Ky., he said.
One barge was damaged after it broke loose and struck a rock retaining wall, Vanterpool said, adding that the Coast Guard will likely inspect the damaged barge today.
The I-30 bridge as well as two downtown vehicular crossings - the Main Street Bridge and the Broadway Bridge, which connect Little Rock and North Little Rock - were closed as a precaution.
The I-30 bridge didn’t appear to sustain any serious damage, he said, noting that the I-30 bridge river guardrails are protected by crash attenuators, also known as pier protection cells that can absorb impact from crashes and protect the integrity of the bridge.
Information for this article was contributed by Noel Oman and Evie Blad of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 08/24/2013