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CNN Live Sunday

Memorial to Be Opened at Arkansas Bridge Disaster Site

Aired June 02, 2002 - 11:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to Oklahoma, it was one week ago today that a barge struck a bridge over the Arkansas River, sending vehicles plunging into the water. In commemoration of the 14 people who were killed, a memorial site will open at a park today overlooking the bridge.

The accident was not the first of its kind. CNN's Brian Cabell takes a look at the freight industry and the dangers associated with hit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Consider the navigable waterways in the U.S., a 25,000-mile interstate highway system, a wet one of course. The 6,000 tugs and 30,000 barges are the huge tractor trailers that move cargo north and south, east and west. Captain Sean Caillquet is part of the flow around New Orleans. How busy can the traffic get here?

SEAN CAILLQUET, RIVERBOAT CAPTAIN: It can get so busy to where the light that's controlling this point right here will make people wait.

CABELL: Stop lights, crowded intersections, parked vehicles on the side of the river, and occasionally accidents, the devastating crash in Oklahoma on Sunday, the even more deadly one in 1993 near Mobile, Alabama when the pilot became lost in bad weather. His barge hit a bridge. A train tumbled off that bridge, killing 47 people. The problem as Sean Calliquet shows us is tugs and barges can't stop quickly, especially in fast currents.

CALLIQUET: I'm going to stop and back.

CABELL: He cuts back on the throttle. Now you're trying to stop. It takes a full 30 seconds to stop the tug. Piloting this boat is radically different from driving a truck. Getting a license is more difficult.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Far more difficult, you're looking at a couple of years of experience as well as testing in six different fields.

CABELL: Conrad Williams used to pilot a tug, but moved back to land. He's not a locks operator. He oversees 50 or 60 barges passing through his locks daily. Down below, 3,000 tons of benzene on one barge.

CONRAD WILLIAMS, LOCKS OPERATOR: It would take maybe about 10 rail cars or 12 rail cars to carry the same thing and maybe more or maybe 50 trucks to carry the same amount of cargo. So -

CABELL: It's cheaper.

WILLIAMS: So, it's cheaper.

CABELL: Cheap and relatively safe, he says, in spite of the occasional headline making accidents. One of America's oldest modes of transportation remains one of its most reliable.

Brian Cabell, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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