(Photo by AP/Wideworld)

A cargo vessel carrying 16 steel decking sections for the new $849-million Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state hit the underside of the current Tacoma Narrows Bridge on June 23. “There was no serious damage,” as temporary scaffolding scraped the bottom of the old bridge after engineers miscalculated the clearances, says Claudia Cornish, communications director for the Tacoma Bridge Project. The carrier did pass under the bridge on June 29 after water ballast was added, equipment was removed, and the crossing point moved 150 ft farther offshore. The contractor is a joint venture between Bechtel, San Francisco, and Peter Kiewit Sons’, Omaha.