Broad Causeway drawbridge crashes down on 49m superyacht

A Floridian drawbridge crashed onto a passing superyacht on Tuesday causing tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to the yacht, and closing the causeway which connects Bay Harbour Islands to the Miami-Dade mainland, triggering traffic jams on land and sea.

Making her debut at the 2009 Fort Lauderdale Boat Show, Trinity Yachts 49m superyacht, RockStar, was being towed under the drawbridge on her route from Fort Lauderdale to Miami when the east side of the drawbridge suddenly slipped causing damage to the vessel’s upper deck, and narrowly missing the hot tub.

The incident, filmed by helicopter Chopper 4 as it captured the ships journey from overhead, found a large hole had been created where the bridge had collapsed onto the top deck of the superyacht. There were no injuries reported to the 15 people who were on board at the time.

Jorge Pino, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said, “The bridge was open, and the vessel was trying to make its way through.”

Registered out of George Town, Caymen Islands, and currently on sale for $20.9 million dollars, RockStar was awaiting a visit from the Coast Guard and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission before she could continue on her onward journey.

The Broad Causeway, which connects North Miami with Bay Harbour Islands and Bal Harbour, is to undergo a $13 million dollar refurbishment project in January which includes replacing parts of the drawbridge mechanism because of past electrical problems. Pino said that authorities were not yet sure how badly the bridge may have been damaged by the incident.

Engineers are now currently assessing the Causeway bridge and the next steps to take, but after some tests, vessels were again able to pass under the bridge on Tuesday evening. Vehicles and pedestrians were restricted to travel across the bridge until the early evening hours. The FWC is investigating the cause of the accident.