DONALDSONVILLE, LA (WAFB) - The Sunshine Bridge in Donaldsonville will remain closed for an undetermined amount of time while emergency repairs are made, officials with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) announced. DOTD released another update on the bridge’s condition Monday afternoon, saying they continue to find damage. Engineers are in the process of finalizing a design in order to perform the repairs. Once the design is done, the estimated timeline for the project will be released. At this point, officials believe the bridge will be closed for months, not days. “The damage is to key members of the bridge and has rendered it unsafe to traffic. While we have identified a contractor and are moving forward with expediting this work, it is important to know there is not an easy fix for this kind of damage. There is no temporary fix that will allow us to safely open the bridge,” said DOTD Secretary Shawn Wilson, Ph.D. “Our hope was to be able to use a portion of the bridge for traffic while emergency repairs were being made, however, that is not the case. We will be working on plans to make the repairs as quickly as possible and will develop a timeline for when the work will be completed. I know this is an inconvenience for the more than 25,000 travelers who use this bridge, but it is not safe to open it to traffic at this time. The department has worked closely with legislators and local officials to update them on the situation and to try to minimize impacts as much as possible.” (WAFB) DOTD says when two ferries are running, they will depart every 15 minutes. When only one is running, the boat will leave every 30 minutes. DOTD goes on to say the reopening of the White Castle ferry has been ruled out for several reasons, including the lengthy process to implement a new ferry route. Additionally, DOTD no longer has property access to the former landings at White Castle, meaning they would have to obtain access from landowners and permission to build on the levee by the Corps of Engineers. DOTD says drivers are encouraged to use the Veterans Memorial Bridge as an alternate to crossing the river. Officials are advising drivers to be prepared for delays since who would normally use the bridge will use the alternate routes. A new signal-timing sequence is also being implemented at the intersection of LA 3127 and LA 20. DOTD says technicians will be at the intersection to monitor traffic and operate the signal manually if the new timings are moving traffic along fast enough. Technicians will also be at the following intersections: LA 3125/LA 3213 LA 3125/LA 3274 US 61/LA 641 These changes are being implemented due to extra traffic on detour routes due to the closure of the bridge. “The collision happened on a Friday and we monitored traffic throughout the weekend,” said DOTD Secretary Shawn D. Wilson, Ph.D. “With light weekend traffic and schools being out on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday will be the largest traffic day since the incident occurred. It’s an industry best practice to monitor the traffic patterns after a major incident and adjust accordingly. There is a good chance we will make more adjustments before the bridge is reopened in an effort to minimize impacts where we can. The department continues to work with local and state law enforcement and elected officials to try and mitigate as much of the congestion as possible. We ask that people who normally use the Sunshine Bridge to plan ahead and be prepared for more congestion than usual on other routes.” On Friday, October 12, a barge carrying a crane hit the side of the bridge during the early morning. The crane has since been removed. DOTD says they have a contractor in place to make temporary repairs in order to reopen the bridge as quickly as possible. “We know the closure of the Sunshine Bridge is an inconvenience for many travelers, and we will expedite the emergency repairs,” said Wilson. “That being said, safety is our number one concern and we have to ensure the bridge can safely handle traffic before it’s reopened.” Drones are being used by inspectors to survey the bridge from an additional damage. For now, they have determined that the damage is significant enough to make it unsafe for the traveling public. ALTERNATE ROUTES: LA 70 westbound traffic may detour by heading east on LA 3125, south on LA 3213 and crossing the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge, and west on LA 3127 to the junction of LA 70. LA 70 eastbound traffic may detour by heading east on LA 3127, north on LA 3213 and crossing the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge, and west on LA 3125 to the junction of LA 70. The second Plaquemine ferry began afternoon operations at 1:30 p.m. instead of 3:15 p.m. to accommodate additional traffic. The ferry will run until its normal ending time at 7:15 p.m. The weekend ferry will also run extra hours, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. instead of from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. (WAFB) (WAFB) FIRST ALERT TRAFFIC: Live traffic map It is unknown who was operating the tugboat pulling the crane, or whether it had clearance to go under the bridge. Several schools in Donaldsonville were forced to delay their start time Friday due to the incident. For more information about how Ascension Parish schools plan to move forward as the bridge remains closed, click here. Copyright 2018 WAFB. All rights reserved.<doc-sep>The operator of a crane barge that slammed into the Sunshine Bridge at Donaldsonville early Friday, shuttering the critical span, has a history of marine accidents in Louisiana, including ramming a tugboat into the Mardi Gras World warehouse and workshop while New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell celebrated her inauguration last May. Operators for Marquette Transportation hit the Sunshine Bridge on Friday with a crane being maneuvered by the towboat Kristine Alexis, according to U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Commander Raymond Wagner. In May, the Steve Richoux towboat pushing six concrete-laden barges upriver lost control and hit a wharf just outside Mardi Gras World's "float den." The crash collapsed a walkway and caused part of a warehouse to sag near the water. +9 Mardi Gras World suffered 'substantial damage' from barge crash, officials say The vast warehouse where most of the city's famous Mardi Gras floats are created each year suffered "substantial damage" Monday evening when i… Marquette Transportation, based in Paducah, Kentucky, has a location in Harahan. The firm operates river, gulf-inland and offshore vessels for a range of cargo, including grains, coal, oil and specialty cargo like construction equipment, military equipment and riverboat casinos. The New Orleans crash caused "substantial damage," setting off a federal investigation. The collision Friday "severely damaged" a load-bearing beam on the Sunshine Bridge, closing the span indefinitely. Coast Guard Lt. Commander Travis Collier said the Mardi Gras World crash is still being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Coast Guard. +9 Ain't no sunshine when the bridge is closed: Barge-mounted crane hits span, disrupts commuters DONALDSONVILLE — Louisiana highway officials closed a major route over the Mississippi River on Friday, and said it would remain shuttered ind… Marquette Transportation President Damon Judd said in a statement Friday afternoon that the Sunshine Bridge collision happened shortly before 2 a.m. He said their were no injuries and "no impact to the environment." "We are taking this matter very seriously and are actively working with the Coast Guard and the LA DOT to complete the investigation and assess the damage to the bridge and required repairs," he said. Wagner said it was not clear what exactly the barge was doing, where it was headed or who was on board when it ran into the bridge Friday. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up “We’re digging into that,” he said. “Investigators are on the scene to determine what the barge was doing, why it was on that side of the river, why it was going through that specific span on the river.” The National Transportation Safety Board was not conducting an investigation as of Friday morning, Wagner said, but could get involved if the incident rises to the level of “potential major marine casualty.” Coast Guard officials are in the preliminary phase of an investigation, Wagner said, and few details about the crash were immediately available. Friday’s crash was also not the first time a Marquette Transportation vessel hit a bridge. The company, which was founded in 1978, managed the towing vessel that hit the U.S. 80 bridge near Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 2008. Marquette was also listed as an "involved organization" in another collision in 2014 with the U.S. 190 bridge in Baton Rouge. A barge carrying corn hit a beam supporting the bridge and took on water, but did not sink, according to Coast Guard records. The bridge was not damaged, according to records. Federal court records also show Marquette was involved with a 2014 collision in East Baton Rouge Parish, when a vessel operated by Marquette, towing five barges, crashed into another vessel. The crash into the Sunshine Bridge on Friday shuttered indefinitely a major travel artery in Donaldsonville, delaying school start times and diverting thousands of drivers to alternate routes. Z. David Deloach, owner of Deloach Marine Services in Baton Rouge, said industry representatives met with the Coast Guard a few years ago to implement some "best-practices" after a rash of incidents. One of the parameters required captains to know the height of cranes on barges. While Deloach said he could not comment specifically on the Marquette Transportation incident, he said the industry overall has a "stellar safety record," especially considering the millions of tons of cargo carried each year, but occasionally accidents happen. The crane atop the barge was in an upright position when it hit the bridge. Photos showed a horizontal beam of the bridge was crumpled. Louisiana State Police reported the crash just before 3 a.m., and the state Department of Transportation and Development said it had identified a contractor to work on the bridge and was trying to reopen it as quickly as possible.<doc-sep>
While the Sunshine Bridge remains indefinitely closed after a barge-mounted crane crashed into the bridge Friday, the Plaquemine ferry is extending its hours to aid with the commute. The crash severely damaged a load-bearing beam. With the bridge closed, a 90-second drive between the east and west banks of the Mississippi River became a nearly hour-long journey. DOTD announced Sunday that after further inspection, the "damage is extensive and several vital components of the bridge are in need of repair." It will remain closed indefinitely. +9 Ain't no sunshine when the bridge is closed: Barge-mounted crane hits span, disrupts commuters DONALDSONVILLE — Louisiana highway officials closed a major route over the Mississippi River on Friday, and said it would remain shuttered ind… "Our hope was to be able to use a portion of the bridge for traffic while emergency repairs were being made," DOTD Secretary Shawn D. Wilson said in the statement. "However, that is not the case. We will be working on plans to make the repairs as quickly as possible and will develop a timeline for when the work will be completed." Wilson recognized that the closure is inconvenient to commuters, but he said the bridge just simply isn't safe. In the meantime, the ferry will extend hours. A second ferry will operate until 6 p.m. Sunday and the first ferry will continue extended weekend hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Louisiana DOTD tweeted Sunday afternoon. During the week, the second boat will operate an hour longer until 10 a.m. and will start an hour earlier in the afternoons at 1:30 p.m. Highway officials suggest motorists use the bridge at Gramercy, 20 miles south, or the ferry at Plaquemine, 28 miles north. The next closest bridge is at Baton Rouge, a 33-mile one-way drive to the north. The 1.5-mile long Sunshine Bridge connects communities throughout the state's industrial corridor. Chemical plant workers use the four-lane bridge to reach plants lining the banks of the Mississippi River while other commuters take the bridge to shorten drives around Donaldsonville, Gonzales and Baton Rouge. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Can't see video below? Click here. The bridge is also a vital link for the Ascension Parish school system. Many teachers and staff who work on the west bank live on the east bank while many west bank students participate in school choice and other programs on the east bank, said Jackie Tisdell, spokeswoman for the school system. Start times for all five Donaldsonville public schools were delayed one hour Friday due to the bridge closure. The system has fall break Monday and Tuesday, but Tisdell said school officials will be monitoring updates on the bridge. The school system posted on its web site Sunday the following changes should the bridge remain closed when classes resume Wednesday: Ascension Head Start, Donaldsonville Primary, Lowery Elementary, Lowery Middle and Donaldsonville High schools will maintain one-hour delayed start times and regular dismissal times. Students in Donaldsonville attending programs located across the Mississippi River such as APPLe Digital Academy, ABC Pelican, the Choice Program and Early College Option will receive detailed information regarding transportation, as needed from the program principals. When the bridge reopens, school operations will resume their normal schedules.