Bridge Work 
2003 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
This is a story related to me by my father who works for the construction site in question.
The construction company was responsible for the removal and replacement of a bridge going across a small river in Florida. The bridge was falling apart at the seams, but was still standing (sortof). The whole area was blocked off with road closed signs and baracades to prevent through-traffic.
One night two women drove down the road, and instead of taking the detour, decided the bridge was still crossable. They hopped out of thier car, moved the baracades out of the way, and started to drive. They did not make it more than half way across. According to the story, the report filed stated they ran through a few "pot-holes" in the bridge until finally, the car tilted forward and would not move, no matter how much they reved the engine.
The driver was up against the rail and could not open her door, but the passager could. She steped out of the car, and disappeared. The Driver climbed out to the passager side and followed the passager through the hole in the bridge to fall 10 feet to the river below. The car was braced from the front bumper and the wheels were suspended over the hole.
At this point, both women were standing in waist-deep water, and had to chose between walking to shore or to the barge that was sitting in the middle of the river. They chose the barge. While the river was normally very shallow and could be waded across, in order to have the construction barge, the river had to be dreged to deepen it.
Before the passager could reach the barge, once again she disapeared, this time underwater. The driver soon followed and they both slid under the barge. The passager drowned but the driver was able to swim back to the surface.
The driver later sued the construction company for wrongful death and the matter was settled out of court.
Submitted on 04/11/2002
Submitted by:
Anonymous
Reference:
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