The authorities in Pittsburgh reopened a bridge that had been closed as a precaution after 26 barges broke free on the Ohio River late on Friday, drifting miles downstream and damaging a marina.
There was a threat that the barges may come into contact with the “substructure” of the McKees Rocks Bridge, the McKees Rocks Police Division mentioned in an announcement early on Saturday. The division mentioned hours later that it had reopened the bridge.
“The police division closed the bridge till our bridge unit was in a position to examine the construction,” mentioned Steve Cowan, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Division of Transportation. “They discovered no injury.”
There have been no studies of the barges placing another constructions, Mr. Cowan mentioned.
It was unclear early Saturday why the barges had damaged free. Three of the barges have been empty, however 23 have been loaded with dry cargo like coal, the town mentioned, including that no hazardous supplies have been on board. There have been no reported accidents.
Abigail Gardner, a spokeswoman for Allegheny County, mentioned solely one of many barges was unaccounted for by early Saturday. The lacking barge had in all probability sunk, she mentioned.
“We now have loads of coal barge visitors,” Ms. Gardner mentioned, including, “It’s clearly not nice when coal sinks in your river, but it surely’s not that unusual right here.”
The barges are owned and operated by Campbell Transportation Firm. An organization consultant didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Town of Pittsburgh initially mentioned that the West Finish Bridge and the rail bridge to close by Brunot Island had been closed, however a spokeswoman for the town, Cara Cruz, mentioned in an e-mail on Saturday that solely the McKees Rocks Bridge was closed.
The bridge closure got here simply weeks after a container ship struck the Key Bridge in Baltimore, inflicting it to break down, killing six staff, disrupting a essential transportation hyperlink and prompting an enormous salvage operation.
That collapse, on March 26, raised issues concerning the structural deficiencies of many main bridges throughout the nation.
In Pittsburgh, the free barges prompted “in depth injury” to a marina close to Brunot Island, the town mentioned.
At the very least 11 barges have been discovered and pinned in opposition to a riverbank close to the island and held by a tugboat, the town mentioned. However others continued downstream, with six going over the Emsworth Dam, about 5 miles farther.
Efforts to get well the barges had not but begun, mentioned Lt. Eyobe Mills, a waterways security supervisor for the U.S. Coast Guard, including that mariners had been suggested to keep away from a 13-mile stretch of the Ohio River till the lacking barge had been positioned.
The authorities started looking for the barges after the primary report got here round 11:25 p.m. on Friday that a number of have been adrift, in accordance with a shift commander at Allegheny County’s 911 middle.
Barges grow to be free from tugboats a minimum of annually within the Pittsburgh area, and frequently strike bridges, however not one of the crashes have prompted main structural injury, Stephen Shanley, Allegheny County’s public works director, informed The Pittsburgh Tribune-Overview.
The McKees Rocks Bridge opened in 1931 and stretches greater than a mile throughout the Ohio River.
As a part of the Blue Belt, the innermost of a number of roads that loop round Pittsburgh, the bridge connects Pittsburgh and the borough of McKees Rocks. About 25,000 autos cross it day by day, in accordance with Federal Freeway Administration knowledge from 2023.
A flood warning was in impact till Saturday night in Allegheny County, which incorporates the Ohio River in Pittsburgh, the place water ranges had risen above the flood stage, 25 ft, by early Saturday, in accordance with the Nationwide Climate Service.
Emily Schmall contributed reporting.