Boat found suspended from WRB Bridge

The small boat was found suspended from the underside of the elevated section of the WRB Bridge early Monday morning.  Bridge staff was forced to change the days planned maintenance regime and turn their attention to safely removing the boat form the structure.  At approximately 11:30 am Protrans WRB Bridge Maintenance crew began the removal process that took approximately 30 minutes to complete.  Once the wire holding the vessel in place was removed the boat was lowered into the lake by hand where it was towed to shore and removed form the lake.

The boat was stripped down to only a fiberglass shell and wieghed approximately 200 lbs.  A visual inspection of the elevated portion of the structure confirmed that the prank did not result in any damage to the structure.

Operations and Maintenance staff are concerned that these types of pranks expose the pranksters, the workers, and the general public to an unnecessary safety risk and hope that the potential consequences of these actions are taken into consideration in the future.