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The Sunshine Skyway Bridge was shut down for about two hours this morning after a freighter lost power and ran aground near the base of the bridge. Eric Hausmann/News Channel 8
Cars were backed up for miles on the bridge.
News Channel 8 image
Raw Video: Tugboat Moves Freighter
From TBO.com and News Channel 8
The Sunshine Skyway Bridge was shut down for about two hours this morning after a freighter lost power and ran aground near the base of the bridge.
The bridge was shut down as a precaution at the request of the U.S. Coast Guard, said Larry Coggins, spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol.
Officials feared any change in the wind or the tide could send the 378-foot Antilles II into one of the bridge supports.
The closure caused major headaches for motorists who were backed up for miles on the bridge.
At about 6:40 a.m., seeing that the route was blocked off, several southbound cars pulled off at US 19 and 54th Avenue South. Their drivers settled in at a CVS drug store parking lot to wait it out.
William Woodcock was among them. He’d driven to Tampa from south of Sarasota to take friends to the airport. He was heading back home when he got diverted.
“So now I’m stuck here in St. Petersburg and for who knows how long?” he said. He considered going back around through Tampa – a 50 to 60 -mile detour.
Chet Bojarski was equally glum. A visitor from New Jersey, he’d been fishing on the north pier.
“I just left to get breakfast and now I can’t get back.”
Using tugboats, the U.S. Coast Guard was able to control the movement of freighter and the highway patrol was able to reopen the lanes at about 7 a.m.
The bridge did not sustain any damage, the highway patrol said.
Stay with TBO.com for developments.
Philip Morgan of the Tampa Tribune contributed to this report .
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Posted by David Verploegh, Palm Harbor on 03/29 at 12:51 AM
OK, folks, part of the Thursday morning news has to include the reason why a freighter closes the only route in and out of southern Pinellas at five o’clock and the morning crew has no word of it until six thirty.
How ‘bout the hundreds of people who trust catching the last traffic on the whatever they can to make sure their route is clear and then spend the their morning stuck waiting for the bridge to reopen? At least you got the ads in.
I was also going to second-guess why the design of the Skyway included preventing any possibility of another incident and a boat grounded hundreds of yards from the impervious barriers stops traffic, but I won’t. I hope someone does, though.