Monday, April 9, 2012

Eggner Ferry Bridge Collapse

On the evening of January 26, 2012,  an 8,400 ton cargo vessel transporting parts for NASA, crashed into one of the bridges spanning Kentucky Lake.  After the collision, a 322 ft. span of the bridge was ripped away and landed on the front of the cargo vessel.   You can read the entire news story here.  Fortunately, nobody was injured in the accident.

Since we were at the lake last weekend, Louie and I decided to drive our boat down to the bridge and take a look at the damage.   Here are a few of the pictures.  As we approached the bridge from the north, this is the view.  As you can see, it's quite a long bridge....



The now missing section.....




An eagle's nest.....




View from the south side......


That's a view you won't see too often!

Afterwards, we pulled into the Kenlake Marina to get some gas.



I was shocked and appalled at the prices.  In town, gas was $ 3.89.  As you can see, the marina prices are
 $ 4.79.



Talk about a rip off!!  We told the attendant to give us $ 100.00 worth (which doesn't even fill the tank) and he rudely informed us to "pump it ourselves" as he was too busy.  Alrighty then!  Rude and expensive....  Unfortunately, there wasn't anyplace else near by, so we were sort of stuck getting it there.  The marina was really pretty, but the service and prices - not so much...    Needless to say, I won't be back!




After our sticker shock, we decided to fish a little.....




Had a picnic lunch of crackers, sausage and assorted cheeses ......


Then we checked out a few tranquil coves......




where we found some really neat caves that are usually underwater..........



Said hello to this little guy.....


And then hurried back north before the storm hit.....


There's a race against the calender to get the bridge repaired by Memorial Day weekend.  I sure hope they get it done.  I feel bad for all the people who normally travel that bridge each day.  Now they have to go about an hour out of their way to travel what used to take them 5 minutes.  Ugh!

12 comments:

  1. They better get a hustle on if they plan to complete the bridge in the next 6 weeks or so!

    Why are marina and island prices for fuel a buck more than anywhere else? We encountered this the last time there was a fuel spike. Ridiculous!

    Your tranquil coves look like a great place to spend a day, or to camp!

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    Replies
    1. There's a stiff penalty for each day that the construction runs over, so we'll see how quickly it gets done. They are working on top right now.

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  2. Trying to be nice...but I would have been sorely tempted to tell the marina guy to talk a long walk on that short bridge...
    xo Cathy

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    Replies
    1. I totally agree. Unfortunately, we needed gas and that was our only option. I know to fill up before we leave next time. I'll never get gas there again.

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  3. I remember reading about that, that was crazy. I hope they can get it finished by then. Sorry about the rudeness at the marina, I don't get people or gas prices for that matter! It looks like you had a wonderful day despite though, those caves are so cool and yeah for the fish! :)
    xoxo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All the marinas are higher for some reason, altho this one was way more so. I don't get it - they do it because they CAN I guess. I would think if the prices were lower, more people would be inclined to go out and spend the day on the lake. But what do I know? LOL!

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  4. Thank goodness no one was on the bridge at the time. I just drove over the Sunshine Skyway this morning and think about our barge crash every time. Come to think of it that was a Coast Guard barge...hmmm. Looks like you guys overcame the rudeness with niceness - a hard thing to do. Were you itching to explore the caves?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, I wanted to explore the caves - you know me well! If we had the pontoon boat, we could have pulled up to shore and done that. Darn!

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  5. The civil engineer in me says "wow!" Looks like a huge job to repair the missing span. Doesn't look like they'll be done by Memorial day but I guess miracles do happen.

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  6. Impressive bridge! Must have been freaky when the accident happened!

    Love the bird, a heron?

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  7. So was it NASA's fault for taking too much across the bridge or the builder's? With those gas prices I'd be very unhappy for having to take the long way around. Fishing looks fun...

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    Replies
    1. The stuff for NASA was on a barge that was going down the river. The barge crashed into the bridge and a section of bridge collapsed on top of the barge. Its a fight now over whose fault it is - was the barge in the wrong shipping lane or were the bridge lights out? Something to that effect.

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