State told before span fell of peril in its lights

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The U.S. Coast Guard warned Kentucky transportation officials that lights on the Eggner’s Ferry Bridge were not working properly a month before a barge struck it and caused a 322-foot section to collapse into the Tennessee River, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

The Coast Guard’s warning Dec. 15 said multiple boaters complained that the navigation lights on the bridge were not operating properly or that the lights were out completely.

“The bridge, without the proper navigation lights, creates an unacceptable navigational hazard to river traffic,” the Coast Guard wrote.

The Coast Guard’s letter is outlined in recommendations the safety board sent to Gov. Steve Beshear on Wednesday. The board recommended that the state verify the operation of navigation lighting on all bridges over navigable waters. The board also recommended that the state develop inspection and maintenance procedures to keep bridge lighting reliable and maintained.

The span in western Kentucky was knocked out Jan. 26 by an 8,200-ton cargo ship, the Delta Mariner. The bridge is an entry to the western side of Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area along U.S. 68/Kentucky 80. It reopened to automobiles in May.

The Delta Mariner was carrying millions of dollars of rocket components used to launch satellites into space for NASA and U.S. Defense Department missions. The ship was on its way to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., when it hit the bridge.

Chuck Wolfe, a spokesman for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, said the condition of the lights is a “point of dispute” in a lawsuit brought by Foss Maritime and he couldn’t go into detail about them.

“The lights were being worked on at the time the boat struck the bridge,” Wolfe said, declining to address the issue further.

The safety board’s letter also states that a district supervisor for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet was unfamiliar with the lighting requirements on the bridge.

The Coast Guard-approved lighting plan calls for red and green lights to mark all four navigable spans as well as three white lights in a vertical line to mark the center of the main navigation span. The letter, signed by board chairman Deborah Hersman, said the area supervisor for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet was unaware of the required white lights to mark the main navigation span.

“It is likely that the white lights had not been operational for at least a year and possibly much longer,” Hersman wrote in the letter.

Wolfe said the cabinet has been trying to implement the safety board’s recommendations since the wreck, with bridge inspectors reviewing the lighting plans for every bridge in Kentucky over navigable waters.

“The lights have been reviewed and inspected,” Wolfe said. “The Cabinet’s been, I think, very proactive about this. The recommendations are well conceived. We had no problem with that.”

Even though the lights have been fixed, there has been no formal training to acquaint workers responsible for bridge maintenance with the lighting required on the span, Hersman wrote.

“This issue may exist in some or all of the 11 other districts in the state,” Hersman wrote.

During a hearing in Paducah in April, the Delta Mariner’s captain testified that faulty lighting on the bridge was the main cause of the crash.

A state engineering supervisor for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet testified that a tow boat had previously hit the same span of the bridge and damaged a green navigation light. He said one side of the bridge remained dark after a series of malfunctions, but lights on the side approached by the Delta Mariner were working the night of the crash.