Causeway Bridge News

Houston based dredging and marine construction contractor Orion Group Holdings – Marine Group has become a member of trade group the Dredging Contractors of America (DCA).Orion has a near 100-year legacy and today ranks among market leaders in the provision of dredging services to keep waterways serviceable and to expand ports and other marine infrastructure throughout the United States, territories and Caribbean. The company works to create beneficial marsh habitats, dredging…

The Coast Guard, Causeway Police and the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office are searching for a person who jumped from the Causeway Bridge into Lake Pontchartrain, Thursday night. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector New Orleans received a report around 10:38 p.m. of a person who exited a reportedly stolen vehicle and jumped into the lake. The missing person was driving a red Ford F-150 Lariat. The missing person is believed to be a Caucasian male in his late twenties or early thirties. Sector New Orleans watchstanders directed the launch of a Coast Guard Station New Orleans small boat and a Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew to search. Units from St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office and Causeway Police Department are also searching for the missing person.

Vessel traffic on the Intracoastal Waterway near Bal Harbor, Florida is restricted following an incident involving a yacht and the Broad Causeway bridge. Due to the incident, only the bridge's west leaf is able to open. Restrictions on vessel traffic limit movement of large vessels with a width of 40 feet or less as only one half of the bridge is operational. Vessels with a height of less than 16 feet in height can transit as normal. Vessels with a height greater than 16 feet must have a width less than 40 feet to navigate through the waterway. The bridge connects North Miami to Bay Harbor Islands and Bal Harbor. The 161-foot yacht, Rockstar, was being towed by two tug boats Tuesday when the incident occurred.

The 125-foot deck barge known as Weeks Barge 236 was refloated Thursday evening at approximately 6:15 p.m. after having been grounded and stuck on shore near Atlantic Beach, N.Y., the U.S. Coast Guard reported. The barge, which was being used to sand blast and paint the Robert Moses Causeway Bridge, went ashore after, according to crew members onboard the tug, a large wave separated the tow line between it and the 26-foot tugboat that was towing it on Monday night. The owners of the barge…

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, a 26-foot tugboat lost control of the barge it was towing off Atlantic Beach, N.Y., Monday evening. Coast Guard and state officials are responding to mitigate any hazards to the waterways and beaches nearby. The Coast Guard was notified at 7:35 p.m. on Monday night that the towing vessel “PUSHY” had lost control of the 125-foot deck barge it was towing following an interaction with a large swell off of Atlantic Beach, N.Y. After the towing vessel and deck barge separated…

Two double-skinned barges, loaded with approximately two million gallons of crude oil, grounded near the Galveston Causeway Bridge Sunday and were freed Tuesday. After many unsuccessful attempts to unground the barges with assist tugs Monday, the Coast Guard approved a plan to offload some crude oil to stand-by barges to lessen the weight and increase buoyancy, which freed them. Marine Safety Unit Texas City personnel were on scene throughout the offloading and reloading of the crude oil in order to ensure the evolution was successful and to investigate the cause of the grounding.

On April 20, Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security revealed that four bridge alteration projects will receive funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that President Obama signed into law on February 19. Additionally, Secretary Napolitano announced that some ARRA funding would go toward building the edifices for various Coast Guard sectors, and for other functions around the country. ARRA allotted $240m to the Coast Guard. Secretary Napolitano indicated that $142m of that total will fund bridge alteration projects on the Mobile Bridge in Hurricane, Al.; the EJ&E Bridge in Devine, Ill.; the Burlington Bridge in Burlington, Ia.; and, the Galveston Causeway Bridge in Galveston, Texas.

This year, The American Waterways Operators (AWO), the national trade association for the tugboat, towboat and barge industry, celebrates its 60th anniversary. AWO members, representing the inland, coastal and harbor sectors of the industry, recently marked this milestone at its Spring Convention, recalling the reasons for the association's founding and recognizing the remarkable evolution of the industry over the past six decades. AWO was formed in 1944 in the midst of emerging regulations, priorities and demands for transportation during World War II. Today, AWO members account for 80 percent of the towing industry's active fleet.

The New Orleans Regional Examination Center (REC) will move to its permanent facility in Mandeville, La., and is scheduled to open on April 2. The Metairie REC location will close permanently at 3 p.m. on Wednesday to start the move. No telephone or email service to the old REC will be available after Wednesday. The REC's hours of operation in Mandeville will be from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. on Friday. The office will remain open for "limited services" during the lunch hour. Testing will be conducted during the same hours, but the latest time to start a new exam is 2:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and noon on Friday.

The Coast Guard is involved in the search for two missing boaters in Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain this afternoon after their small boat was located overturned in the lake Monday afternoon. Coast Guard rescue boat and helicopter crews are searching for Frank Andrew and Gretchen Life, both of Gretna, La. The Causeway Police initially located the boat, a homemade vessel of about 20 feet, near the Causeway Bridge Monday and notified the Coast Guard at about 2:30 p.m. A Coast Guard Station New Orleans smallboat crew was immediately launched to investigate the report and conduct an initial search. The crew obtained the registration number from the vessel, but lacking any correlating information such as a mayday call, flare sighting, or overdue report, returned to base.