Illinois Department of Transportation Operations Engineer Tom Hufnagel says the Illinois 23 Veterans Memorial Bridge in Ottawa will be inspected next week. The yearly inspection was already on the schedule when a loose barge hit the bridge early Tuesday morning. The barge was wedged in the pier. Hufnagel says a preliminary inspection shows the bridge did well in the encounter.
ADM Media Relations spokesperson Jackie Anderson says the barge was at the company’s Ottawa loading facility. It was partially loaded with mulch when it got loose. Anderson says ADM appreciates the help from IDOT, the Coast Guard, and local authorities. No one was hurt because of the incident.
An ADM tug crew retrieved the barge during the 9am hour, about six hours after the barge got loose. Traffic on the bridge kept flowing during the retrieval, with one man even watching from the walkway on the bridge’s east side.
The retrieval might be compared to a tow truck taking a disabled car away from a roadside. The tug crew hooked onto the barge and hauled it upstream. Dislodging it from the pier made some racket though. But when the scraping and knocking sounds were over and the tug was on its way, the crew honked the horn and the audience above the Allen Park sled hill applauded.
IDOT went into the retrieval expecting it to be more complicated. At about 9am Tuesday, an IDOT employee told everyone parked in the area of Catherine St. and Prospect Ave. they would need to move their cars to make room for big emergency vehicles that needed the room to go down the street. But no such vehicles came and the operation was over within the hour.
