A barge allided with the Sea Wolf Parkway Bridge in Galveston, Texas, Wednesday morning, closing off vessel traffic for 6.5 miles and temporarily disrupting road traffic and power to Pelican Island and the Texas A&M Galveston campus, according to the Coast Guard and local authorities.
The Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston command center was notified of the allision at 9:48 a.m. The 321' barge MMLP 321 owned by Martin Petroleum had a cargo of 30,000 gals. of of vaccum gas oil, according to the Coast Guard and Galveston County Office of Emergency Management.
“Vacuum gas oil from the barge has been visually confirmed in the water, causing a closing of the Intracoastal Waterway from Mile Marker 350.5 to Mile Marker 357, approximately 6.5 miles,” according to OEM officials. The volume of the leak was unknown.
The Texas Department of Transportation was on scene inspecting the bridge for damage, and one lane reopened to traffic around 2:30 p.m., television station KHOU-11 reported. Video from the station’s Air 11 helicopter showed part of a train trestle along the bridge had collapsed.
A Coast Guard Station Galveston boat crew responded, and 3,000 feet of containment boom has been deployed in the vicinity of the allision, according to the Coast Guard.
The intercoastal waterway was closed from Pelican Cut (mile marker 351.5) to the Galveston Causeway (mile marker 357.3) and a 5.8-mile safety zone was been issued for the surrounding waters.
