10.08.2020

Bridge bashing escape

The boom of a lattice crawler crane struck the Douglas Bridge, in Juneau, Alaska, last week as the barge it was on passed underneath the 200 metre span bridge, shortly after having left the port.

The barge had two cranes on board, the fully rigged crawler crane and a Rough Terrain. The crawler’s boom struck the bridge tipping the crane forward, allowing the boom to scrape along the underside. Once the boom cleared the bridge the crane tipped back onto its tracks, rocked backwards, and miraculously stayed upright. The barge continued on its way. The incident occurred roughly two hours before low tide.
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According to officials, engineers inspected the bridge shortly after the incident was reported, and confirmed that the damage was superficial. The same cannot be said for the crane, which while remaining intact would have been structurally compromised. The entire incident was captured on the video posted below.

There is certainly an argument for travelling with the boom lowered, or perhaps using a telescopic crawler? The barge was being towed by the tug Columbia Layne, owned by Channel Construction of Juneau.