Oil spills after two barges strike Mississippi River bridge

[HooptieWagon]

12. Update...after checking map and pix

It appears the river makes a 90 deg bend just upriver of at least 3 bridges...I-20, US-80, and a RR bridge. The 90 degree bend appears to have been a former ox-bow in the river that was straightened out somewhat (from 180deg to 90deg). I found a pic of the I-20 bridge...the piers are well apart and unprotected by fenders. I could not find pix of the other bridges, but the RR bridge (which the barge hit) probably has piers much closer together.
As I suspected, the barges/tug had to make a big turn just before passing under the three (at least) bridges. This is some tricky manuvering, since it might take a minute or so for the barges to actually start turning after the turn is initiated. Imagine driving down a curvy road in your car, but the car doesn't turn until a minute after you turn the steering wheel, or drive straight for a minute after you straighten the wheel. That's the sort of lack of manuverability we're discussing. I'm amazed there aren't more tug/barge accidents (there are, but the majority are minor and not reported in news).