Damage to the Simpson Bay bridge attendant’s booth
SIMPSON BAY--Three years after the Simpson Bay bridge operator’s booth was knocked into the water by a superyacht entering Simpson Bay Lagoon with a hatch left open, the new bridge attendant’s booth was damaged by another mega-yacht on Sunday afternoon.
The 43.4m mega-yacht was going through the Simpson Bay bridge after the bridge opened at 5:00pm when it struck the Simpson Bay Lagoon Authority (SLAC) bridge control room. Rebuilt only a year ago, the booth incurred severe structural damage on Sunday. Wires leading to the operation consoles were also damaged.
Luckily, the bridge operator was not injured.
Port St. Maarten Group (PSG) personnel carried out a preliminary assessment and determined that bridge operations can continue as normal from the machine room.
Inbound and outbound scheduled bridge openings for maritime traffic will continue normally as of 8:30am today, Monday, January 9, but there will be additional manpower during bridge openings to facilitate the movement of road traffic over the bridge.
Motorists are urged to pay attention to the bridge closure booms, to adhere to the red stop lights and to follow any directives given by the SLAC staff during the opening operations.
