Barge Hits Bridge

[Arabhacks]

There were issues, but no damage.

This will be listed as a "Incident" and not an "Accident".

[Eng8492]

0 people got off the bridge

[MCHS38]

Captain - "Oh I am soo fired"

[MCHS38]

Whenever I go on the Spirit of Dubuque the captain always talks about this

[Bands1999]

How come they don't have wooden pylons by the pilings ? we do here!

[notanythingful]

@Bands1999 some architect probably didn't think they were pretty enough lol

[bigpoppa0518]

@Bands1999 The reason they don't have wooden pylons on this bridge is because the span for the barges to to go through is actually incredibly wide. What happened here is that the water was very high but not high enough to close it to barge traffic. Also, he was heading downstream and before you get to this bridge you go through a turnstyle railroad bridge. He picked up too much speed coming out of the railroad bridge and couldn't control it as he went downstream.

[ronday11]

yea i work on the boat...they have no idea wht goes on and how its like

[jackpurvis1]

BUSTING UP TOW IS NEVER A GOOD THING! WHAT BOAT IS THIS? MARQUETTE WARRIOR? I WORK ON THE RIVER SO I UNDERSTAND THE SEVERITY OF THIS SITUATION. EVERYONE OK?

[garywayne123]

@MrBioluminescence appsollutly nothing they could...the pilot did the right thing by prtecting the BOAT

[garywayne123]

first order is to protect the boat...if ya kow anny thing bout that part of da river you know its bad....if they would have had a bow boat threw the railroad bridge above that highway bridge that wouldnt have happened...stupid marquette

[hhunter318]

whoever is sayin, "get em off the bridge!", is an idiot. You try piecing a tow back together after busting it up. Until you've worked on the river, please keep your mouth shut...

[doughesson]

Some guys deserve the title"Bridgebuster" and some don't.Anyone can hit a bridge.All it takes is the wrong wind,current or even tow configuration to make it too hard to make a bridge without hitting it.

[garywayne123]

@doughesson u r a dumbass

[doughesson]

@garywayne123 What makes you say that?Isn't almost 12 years of towboating experience from green deckhand through tankerman to a Master 100 tons-Western rivers enough experience to comment on what makes a "bridgebuster" or a simple construction technique to reduce allision damage to bridge piers that can easily be added to any bridge in existence?

[doughesson]

If bridges were retrofitted with a berm of riprap around the piers,that would reduce damage from allisions.The barges or boats wouldn't be able to hit the piers themselves but would ground on the riprap instead. I've never hit a bridge but have had a couple close calls.There are times that you can only grip the sticks hoping that you are pushing them hard enough to help the engines & rudders steer you out of trouble. It doesn't always work.

[jmecrg]

my biggest question here .....why the hell did you copyright this SHIT......boring bullshit

[Krathor18]

Yeah like a shitty little rust bucket like that could take down a bridge haha it barely even made a dent lol.

[ynnhojhairam]

wow sounds like a toothless trailor park trash smoker screaming... EEk!

[Pugwash81]

@ynnhojhairam almost peed my pants! your comment was funny!

[TheWacoKid1963]

haha call 911, whar they gonna do...throw down a spike strip

[spartan0738]

that looks like my bath tub after i get some new toys!!! btw hes fired.. :O

[alderaforall]

imagine driving across that bridge and seeing the cluster fuck going on underneath you.

[rdblan82]

"Get em Off the bridge" Get em off the bridge" what an idiot!!!! Whoever shot this video has no clue!

[beltstud1]

omg. i heard about that but i never saw it. and the julien bridge is really friggen old... well not really old. but its pretty old

[samwilburn]

I've seen collisions like this one hundreds of times.I've worked as a captain on the miss/ohio rivers for almost 20 years.Happens all the time all over the place.Sometimes the slightest error can cause a bridge collision,and no we can't stop on a dime as some of the tows we push can carry in excess of 60,000 tons of product,or equal to 2400 tractor trailer truck loads.Just FYI most modern bridges are more than a match for just about any tow.Yes some older bridges can be damaged.

[plugmont2]

i agree with acquiesant, if you aint never worked on a boat you dont know how they handle, i work on the lower, between lum light 303ahp and venice, la and the icw

[DakarNick]

Which boat is that?

[STBNY]

lol the bridge cant be that weak....

[twoxland]

looks like the river or whatever is in flood stage anyone know for sure?

[88premiermosfet]

@twoxland its because the barge its so heavy that it sinks and it looks like the river is high but all barges have numbers on both sides that tell how much capacity it can take usualy they never go over 10

[khh1964]

hmm, dont remember hearing about that, oh and acquiesant, youre an idiot. they are yelling "get 'em as in 'get them' as in the fucking people on top of the bridge you moron" in case the bridge oh I don't know falls into the river with people on it?

[burbach21093]

I was there i was driving past on my boat and it really wasn't that big of a deal, there was no damage to the bridge.

[eosrk]

I can tell Crunch was going southbound....cause on the Upper, its empties up, loads down!

[eosrk]

I wonder who capt'n crunch knows there, for that is one too many bust ups...and a 30 barge tow.....and it probably happened on the Lower

[eosrk]

and I espically past this bridge all the time...and it looks like the current got the head of the tow and dragged it over

[trinityroughneck]

call 911.....what the hell will they do besides say oh crap

[blrkeith]

@trinityroughneck Here's a idea maybe they will stop traffic on the bridge and divert traffic to the Dubuque - Wisconsin Bridge .

[mikeuwplatt]

@trinityroughneck tell people to get off the bridge haha

[acquiesant]

you gotta love the people saying get it off the bridge. I bet that captain never thought of that and was gonna tie the barges off there. Those are the same people that drive their boat right in front of a tow and get ran over and bitch asking Why didn't you stop? If you've never been on a boat you'll never understand. They don't stop on a dime because they move slow.

[eyerun68046]

accidents happen, you try steering hundreds of miles up and down the rivers in all kinds of weather and water conditions without ever having a problem.

[browneyedkj]

my husband works for the company that owns this boat and the same captain (they call him "CAPTAIN CRUNCH" ) just had another "accident. He hit ground and tore the whole tow apart, and tore the rudders on the boat up. Wasn't anything anyone could do. 2 accidents in 1 year, come on now... these are real people out there this company is gambling with their lives. CAPTAIN CRUNCH NEEDS TO BE FIRED.

[phildeez1984]

lol @ Capt Crunch, Ive worked with a few that needed that name. Its easy to sit on the other end of the computer and talk about the captain, If he was neglegent and could have avoided a grounding/collision then yes he needs to get fired, But I will say that marquette used to pay extra money to the wheelmen if they could get X amount of miles per day, I have heard that they stopped that a few years ago but some of the pilots still have a "Balls to the wall" mentality and are a danger to its crew

[2372nopaintowing]

@browneyedkj just came across what you said. When you said my husband works on a towboat you should have shut up there because if your husband is sitting at home or on the phone telling u he has never had an accident #1 he is a lying piece of shit #2 he works in the office and is full of shit #3 he works on the deck and dont know shit, so dont talk shit about people we are what keeps this country running and we are proud to do it and u should know that

[alderaforall]

@2372nopaintowing easy there, you are just one cog in the wheel that keeps this country running.

[browneyedkj]

my husband works for marquette transportation, the company that owns this boat, and the same captain "CAPTAIN CRUNCH" just had his second run in with running ground, tore the whole 30 barge towe apart and destroyed the rudders on the boat, wasn't anything the crew could do but watch the tow come apart. HE NEEDS TO BE FIRED... 2 accidents in one year... come on now

[phildeez1984]

yeah as they say shit happens that applys especially for the river industry, the river can make green pilots look as gracefull as the most seasoned pilots, and it can make seasoned pilots look as if they couldnt steer a jon boat across a pond. all the skill, determination, and education might not help a bit, when the river wants to be heard, we have no choice but to listen.

[seannbonn]

i work on a tow boat sometimes shit is beyond you lady you need to shut the fuck up

[gumchewer58]

seriously i do to on the mighty mssissippi and sometimes barges get caught um in the current ad ine s break and all you can do is pray

[maplemanz]

maybe the captain was drunk!!

[whackyarmflailingtub]

I was therrrrre