Published: May 27, 2006 01:34 pm      

Barge to enjoy holiday weekend in area

Stuck visitor to remain a few more days

Bob Mallette was all set to finally remove the barge from its resting place against the K&I Bridge Saturday, but mother nature had different plans.

“The river is giving us some problems,” Mallette said. “It’s just not cooperating.”

Mallette, hired by Magnolia Marine Transport to supervise the barge removal, said the fast-moving current — brought about by rising waters due to recent storms — could postpone the barge’s removal until Wednesday, possibly even Friday.

A spokesman from the National Weather Service in Louisville said about 2 inches of rain fell in the New Albany area Wednesday and Thursday. The forecast calls for a hot, dry weekend with only a 20-30 percent chance for rain towards the middle of next week.

Mallette said the river’s current is pinning the barge to the bridge pillars rendering it impossible to move it into an upright position.

“When the current slacks off, we’ll have a greater ability to control the removal of the barge,” Mallette said.

The barge has now been in its position for 122 days. It came loose from a tow group on Jan. 26.

Mallette said the barge’s retrieval has taken so long because workers had to reheat the eight compartments that were holding liquid asphalt one at a time. Portable heating coils had to be brought in to do the job because the existing ones were damaged when the barge hit the bridge.

Now that the majority of the asphalt has been removed, Mallette said, the weight of the vessel has been reduced from 5,000 tons to about 1,200 tons.

“This thing is almost as big as a football field,” he said. “It’s as long as a football field and half as wide.”

Mallette said once the current calms, workers will pull the bottom of the barge upstream allowing it to, once again, float upright.