I-40 BRIDGE COLLAPSE IN OKLAHOMA, IS SUBJECT OF NTSB BOARD MEETING

The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a public Board meeting on Tuesday, August 31, 2004 at 9:30 a.m., in its Board Room and Conference Center, 429 L'Enfant Plaza, S. W. Washington, D.C. A final report on the fatal bridge collapse in Webbers Fall, Oklahoma will be discussed.

On May 26, 2002, the towboat Robert Y. Love, pushing two empty tank barges, was traveling northbound on the McClellan-Karr Arkansas River Navigation System, near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma. As the tow approached the Interstate 40 highway bridge, it veered off course and rammed a pier west of the navigation channel. The impact collapsed a 503-foot section of the bridge, which fell into the river and onto the barges below. Highway traffic continued to drive into the void the bridged created by the collapsed spans. By the time traffic stopped, eight passenger vehicles and three truck tractor-semitrailer combinations had fallen into the river or onto the collapsed portion of the bridge. The accident resulted in 14 fatalities and 5 injuries.

The Board meeting will be available via webcast on the Board's website at www.ntsb.gov.

Directions to the Board Room: Front Door located on Lower 10th Street, directly below L'Enfant Plaza. From Metro, exit L'Enfant Plaza station at 9th and D streets escalator, walk through shopping mall, at CVS store take escalator down one level. Board Room will be to your left.

NTSB Media Contacts: Keith Holloway, (202) 314-6100, hollowk@ntsb.gov