Mathews Bridge Breaking News

[If_I_Loved_you]

DANGER AHEAD: America's bridges and roads crumbling, and the Highway Trust Fund is set to go broke in 2014
One in nine U.S. bridges are structurally deficient, but few Washington politicians seem willing to confront the problem.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/u-s-bridges-crumbling-highway-trust-fund-broke-article-1.1416409#ixzz2g6GjIi1v

[ChriswUfGator]

That's the ironic thing, this bridge was in good shape, they'd actually just wrapped up refurbishing it during most of 2012 at significant expense, which is why it was closed half the time until relatively recently. Just in time to get hit by a ship.

[Scrub Palmetto]

Here are some inspection photos of the damage: http://jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=540637

[BridgeTroll]

Months to fix... 

[Cheshire Cat]

Yep, they said the damage was far more extreme than they first thought.  That was one heck of a mistake on the part of that ships captain from the look of things.    What do you bet that as work progresses more problems will be found?  I am thinking that will be the case.

[tufsu1]

That's the ironic thing, this bridge was in good shape, they'd actually just wrapped up refurbishing it during most of 2012 at significant expense, which is why it was closed half the time until relatively recently. Just in time to get hit by a ship.

wrong....the concrete work to replace the metal grating was done in 2007.  They are CURRENTLY working on a $20+ million rehab project to repaint the bridge and replace all the bolts....which is in response to the bridge rating study noted in the post by Bridges one page back

[edjax]

Story on JBJ stating they could possibly reroute and use traffic on other side while repairs are being made to north side of bridge damaged. Of course all very prelim at this point. This was comment from Ray Lake.  Not sure you would find me using. 

[edjax]

Oops. Make that Lake Ray.

[Traveller]

Inbound in the morning & outbound in the afternoon, or one lane each direction?

[ChriswUfGator]

That's the ironic thing, this bridge was in good shape, they'd actually just wrapped up refurbishing it during most of 2012 at significant expense, which is why it was closed half the time until relatively recently. Just in time to get hit by a ship.

wrong....the concrete work to replace the metal grating was done in 2007.  They are CURRENTLY working on a $20+ million rehab project to repaint the bridge and replace all the bolts....which is in response to the bridge rating study noted in the post by Bridges one page back

Ok, either way, just in time to get hit by a ship. Not sure that changes my point...

[Ocklawaha]

BLONDE JOKE OF THE DAY? This mornings News gal on channel 4's morning show, was asking questions of a Coast Guard Spokeswoman on the scene.

NEWS BABE "As we drive around we see all of these bridges have the clearances clearly painted under them, we don't see that here, could that be an issue here?"

COASTIE OFFICERS SAVE: "Well we are considering all areas right now, nothings been ruled out."

After which she probably turned, grabbed her side and fell into the ditch laughing!! UM! For those that don't get it? There is NO set clearance under waterway bridges as tidal ebb and flow and or storm and floodwaters can greatly change the distance. LOL

[edjax]

^^even more frightening perhaps she was referring to the vehicle clearances on the bridge span!!  Hey. Never know with our top notch reporters. 

[Bativac]

That's the ironic thing, this bridge was in good shape, they'd actually just wrapped up refurbishing it during most of 2012 at significant expense, which is why it was closed half the time until relatively recently. Just in time to get hit by a ship.

I don't think it had been wrapped up at all - I live near Empire Point and the Mathews Bridge is still closed every weekend due to ongoing work. Traffic gets pretty bad - especially if I need to head east on Atlantic - and my guess is now it will be a lot worse for a lot longer.

[Scrub Palmetto]

Inbound in the morning & outbound in the afternoon, or one lane each direction?

Speaking of that, it's a shame reversible lanes aren't more prevalent. Imagine if you could regulate how many lanes are going in and out of downtown on the Hart Bridge right now.

[simms3]

There is NO set clearance under waterway bridges as tidal ebb and flow and or storm and floodwaters can greatly change the distance. LOL

This is an overrated quote though.  For smaller bridges they post clearance by foot...so if you're crossing under the Ortega Bridge, the Acosta, Main Street, Buckman, Roosevelt, Doctor's Inlet, etc etc you can see the clearance in real time in your personal watercraft.  Obvi for ships this isn't the case, but they have radios, they know the tides, and generally in a big storm (Nor'Easter, Hurricane, TS, etc) they are not parking 700 ft ships anyway or navigating under bridges, LoL.  As someone who grew up on the river and who has spent very much time on the water, the SJR is very predictable - really no material difference after your average afternoon storm, and tides are not extreme - 3 ft really.

If the clearance is give as 152 ft, I don't know all the rules - if that means average clearance, so +1.5 ft at low tide and -1.5 ft at high tide, or if that is maximum clearance (aka low tide), with -3 ft at high tide.  However, I think SJR is pretty damn predictable and while for Jacksonville's lower bridges just inches can make a diff for the largest SJR-navigable ships, 3 ft diff is only a 1.9% diff on a 152 ft clearance.  That's a generally negligible difference.

The issue here is less the clearance since they obviously knew the ship wouldn't clear, it's the tugboats inability to maneuver the ship safely to berth within dangerous distance to a no-clearance major bridge.  My questions are why such a large ship?  And why so close to Matthews Bridge?  A 150 ft high, 750 ft long ship with over tonnage over 50,000 is a large ship for Jacksonville's navigable-limited waters.  Shouldn't this thing be berthing at Blount Island?  Who's making the decisions around here and how is this massive ship not under its own power at all while being towed upriver?  I don't think you can just blame the tug captains here, and I do think Jax needs to acknowledge its waterway and bridge clearance limitations more now that it has become a serious issue with consequences.