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Tug slammed into bridge construction

The "Tenessee Hunter" struck and damaged some of the form work in place for construction of the New US 68/KY 80 Lake Barkly Bridge at Canton in Trigg County in the morning of Mar 25, 2016. She was pushing 15 empty barges when the captain reported wind blew the tow into some of the construction forms for Pier 8 on the new bridge about 4:10 a.m., CDT. The captain reported only minimal damage to his starboard lead barge. In the initial report it was not clear if the tow had hit the existing US 68/KY 80 Lake Barkley Bridge at Canton. As a precaution, a Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Certified Bridge Inspector was dispatched to the site. Highway traffic was restricted to one lane on the existing bridge for about 90 minutes to allow the inspector to run a safety check on the bridge structure. The inspector found no damage to the existing bridge. However he reported damage to concrete forms for construction of Pier 8 on the new bridge. After an initial evaluation of the damage with the contractor, the KYTC engineer on the project indicated some of the form work will have to be replaced. It is estimated that the damaged forms will take about a week to replace, maybe more. There appeared to be only minor damage to the temporary construction trestle that provides construction access for the new bridge being constructed immediately downstream from the existing bridge. There were no workers on the construction trestle at the time of the incident.