The U.S. Coast Guard is now on the scene where a Delta Mariner crashed into Eggner’s Ferry Bridge late last night.

According to Kentucky Transportation spokesman Keith Todd, Coast Guard officials are determining whether or not the ocean going cargo vessel was traveling in the right channel.

The transportation official says the vessel makes fairly regular runs in this area.

Few details have been released concerning the vessel, however, reports indicate it was either traveling to or from Decatur and its last known port was in New Orleans.

51-year old Robert Parker of Cadiz told the Associated Press earlier today that he and his wife were traveling northbound on the highway after his stepson’s house in Murray and were driving in the rain when they suddenly realized a section of the bridge was missing and hit his brakes.

The Cadiz man also stated he was able to hit his brakes within 5 feet of the missing section and that several cars were behind him.

Officials say roughly 2,800 motorists travel on the bridge everyday and Keith Todd says a pre-construction phase is underway to replace the bridge.
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Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Engineers remain on Eggner’s Ferry Bridge to reportedly evaluate the stability of the bridge structure.
According to a news release provided by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, engineers are checking each section of the bridge, which so far officials say two sections of the bridge are down.
The evaluation will reportedly take several days to complete.

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Due to the bridge incident that occurred late last night at Eggner’s Ferry Bridge on U.S. 68 and Ky 80, Kentucky State Police and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet are urging residents to avoid the area.
According to KSP, motorists who normally travel westbound on US 68 through the Land between the Lakes should avoid LBL, KY 453 as well as US 68.
Officials say motorists can instead use Interstate 24 corridor to the purchase parkway to access this area.
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A Hopkinsville man was injured in a single-vehicle wreck on the Pennyrile Parkway Thursday night.

The report from Kentucky State Police says 25-year old Carl Cunningham was on the southbound ramp at the 9 mile-marker just after 8pm when he lost traction on the wet pavement and began to spin.

Cunningham over-corrected and struck the left side guard rail before finally coming to rest. Cunningham was taken by ambulance to Jennie Stuart Medical Center and police say he was wearing his seat belt.
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01/28/2012/am

In what has to be described as a miracle, it appears no one was injured or killed when a barge struck the Eggner’s Ferry Bridge over Kentucky Lake at the Trigg-Marshall County line tonight, causing a large section to collapse.
The incident happened right at 8:10, according to information from the Highway Department, which says the motor vessel Delta Mariner struck the bridge, knocking out a large section near the middle of the structure.
The captain of the vessel told Marshall County responders all of his 20 men were accounted for and uninjured. Initial searches by the Golden Pond Fire Department and Marshall County Rescue Squad using high-tech equipment including sonar turned up no vehicles under the water.
“So far as we know, there were no cars on the bridge at the time it went down,” said Keith Todd of the state highway Department.
"It (the barge) was pushing a large container vessel; I am told it holds aerospace aviation parts and somebody indicated it may have a NASA symbol on it.”
The bridge is, of course, closed and will cause major delays for anyone driving from the east to Murray or elsewhere on U.S. 68, with a much longer detour now necessary.
Crews will continue assessing the scene and agencies from across the state and region will converge on the bridge through the weekend to determine what went wrong and how.
The bridge was to be restricted to one lane most of the day Friday for electrical work to the navigational lights, but Todd said all of the lights appeared to be working correctly at the time of the collision.
The bridge is on the short list for upcoming replacement projects and it now undoubtedly jumps to priority number one, though no one wanted it to happen this way.

Click here to hear full interview with Keith Todd of the state highway department.

Click here to see a photo of the same ship going under the same bridge in July 2008.
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01/26/2012/am