Another bridge collision, just not as catastrophic...

[JohnRBaker]

Barge hits bridge connecting Galveston and Pelican Island, causing partial collapse and oil spill

https://apnews.com/article/bridge-barge-galveston-texas-6c112f0032ab88fbdd0c78d1957247c8

An excerpt from the above item:

A barge slammed into a bridge pillar in Galveston, Texas, on Wednesday, spilling oil into surrounding waters and closing the only road to a smaller and separate island that is home to a university, officials said. There were no immediate reports of injuries, although officials said one person on the barge was knocked into the water and quickly rescued.

The bridge that leads to Pelican Island, north of Galveston, was struck by the barge around 9:50 a.m. when a tugboat backing out of Texas International Terminals, a fuel storage operator next to the bridge, lost control of two barges it was pushing, said David Flores, a bridge superintendent with the Galveston County Navigation District.

“The current was very bad, and the tide was high. He lost it,” Flores said.

One of the barges hit the bridge and two telephone poles, he said.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[SWComposites]

weird statement about the rail line:
At the bridge, a large piece of broken concrete and debris from the railroad hung over the side and on top of the barge that rammed into the passageway. Flores said the rail line only serves as protection for the structure and has never been used.

 

[Murph 9000]

Yeah, just a strange way of phrasing it, I think.

From a quick bit of digging, it looks like the rail crossing was built to connect the industry on the island to the BNSF rail yard to the south. It was then never used for anything, and eventually disconnected from the rail yard, partially torn up, and left to rust.

I don't think it was ever intended to serve as protection; just ended up as that through changing plans, time, etc.