I-430 bridge northbound lanes to be closed for search of three workers

Motorists advised to find another route

By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Photo by Staton Breidenthal

Searchers comb the Arkansas River under the Interstate 430 bridge for missing workers that fell into the river when the scaffold they were working on collapsed.

ADVERSTISMENT

Two of the northbound lanes of Interstate 430 over the Arkansas River will be closed at 6 p.m. today so that a crane can be sent in to recover a construction platform that collapsed into the river Wednesday morning.

The highway will be closed from the Cantrell Road exit in Little Rock to the Arkansas 100/Maumelle exit in North Little Rock. Robert Mauldin, North Little Rock assistant fire chief, said he didn't know how long the lanes would be closed, and he said motorists will need to take an alternate route.

Workers fall in river

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The 5,000-pound platform collapsed at about 11 a.m., dragging the three workers under the river, Mauldin said. A rescue crew located what is suspected to be the platform at about 12:30 p.m., but the river's swift currents made it too risky for divers to get in the water. No barges were available, so rescuers made the decision to call in a crane.

The workers, who were employed by a Texas construction company, were installing supports for two 30-inch water mains for Central Arkansas Water.

Rescue crews from Little Rock, North Little Rock and the Pulaski County Sheriff's Department have been searching for the three workers since they fell into the water this morning.

A fourth worker on the bridge left the site for a moment and when he returned, the platform was gone.

Boats from the sheriff's office and the North Little Rock and Little Rock fire departments are searching for the men, as are a number of private boat owners.

Because of the Arkansas River's current speed of 212,000 cubic feet per second, no divers are in the 49-degree water. Divers are not used when a river is moving faster than 75,000 cubic feet per second.

Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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