A Cargo Ship Ran Into the Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is having a rough year. This summer, it became the focus of national and local attention after a pair of German pranksters switched out the American flags flying high at the top of the bridge with a pair of bleached-out versions, spurring all kinds of dark conspiracy theories and outrage from the borough president. There’s the ongoing onslaught of love locks, a particularly permanent kind of graffiti that’s been accumulating on the pedestrian walkway fences, and the part of the facade that collapsed during a violent storm this summer. And last Friday, a cargo ship named, no joke, Rainbow Quest, clipped the bridge as it was passing under, resulting in the NYPD shutting down traffic on the bridge over the weekend.
Yep, the Brooklyn Bridge just can’t get no respect from nobody. According to The Maritime Executive, the boat had been sailing from the Navy Yard on it’s way out to sea when its light tower clipped the bottom of the bridge, around 11 p.m. on Friday night. The MTA, which had already planned a routine closure of the bridge that weekend, shut down the thoroughfare to traffic in order to inspect the extent of the damage.
Luckily for everyone concerned, that 131 year-old bridge can take a licking and right on ticking, if you will. Inspectors found that there was no real damage, and no one injured in the incident. That’s great, but really, can we take better care of that thing? We need it to get home.