Oil Rig in Mobile takes out large bridge

[logybogy]

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs ... /508290839

Authorities closed a major bridge over the Mobile River on Monday after it was struck by a runaway oil drilling platform during Hurricane Katrina.

Tony Harris, a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Transportation, said the Cochrane-Africatown USA Bridge in north Mobile on U.S. 98 will remain closed until it can be inspected for possible damage.

State officials could not immediately determine where the platform had been docked.

It apparently broke away from its moorings about 11 a.m., drifting north with Katrina's winds until it became jammed under the west end of the bridge's main span.

The bridge is the route used for hazardous material to bypass the Wallace Tunnel on Interstate 10 in downtown Mobile. It was used as an alternate route Sunday when heavy evacuation traffic caused congestion at the I-10 tunnel.

Trucks carrying hazardous material are now being detoured up Interstate 65 to Alabama 59 to bypass the closed bridge.

[cjrciadt]

Remember Ivan wiping away pieces of the highway. However Katrina ripped an oil rig, pushed it into a bridge, and jammed it into it.

[Jim Cantore]

I know this is way out of date but I wanted to mention that there was another rig tossed onto Dauphin Island