A barge slammed into a bridge in Galveston on Wednesday, spilling oil into the bay, forcing a shutdown of the Texas span and prompting the university on the other side of the bridge to close its campus through the weekend, officials said.
Texas A&M University at Galveston said Wednesday evening that the Galveston campus would be closed Thursday through Sunday, citing an “extended outage of the bridge through the weekend,” according to the university announcement.
The update noted that traffic is no longer exiting Pelican Island — where the university is located — and the bridge is closed to all traffic. Texas A&M said the Texas Department of Transportation is continuing to assess the damage from the collision.
Aerial images showed that a section of a rail line alongside the bridge appeared to have collapsed, with slabs of concrete piled on the barge.
Barge hits Pelican Island Bridge in Galveston, Texas, causing partial collapse pic.twitter.com/8eJ5kJdtHY
— NewsWire (@NewsWire_US) May 15, 2024