Barge strikes Oklahoma bridge, shutting down highway traffic

A major highway in Oklahoma was temporarily shut down after a large barge hit a bridge over the Arkansas River, Oklahoma officials said.

Troopers closed the bridge and diverted traffic away from South U.S. Highway 59 on Saturday afternoon to allow the infrastructure to be inspected after the incident, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and Department of Public Safety said on X, formerly Twitter.

It was not immediately clear what caused the barge to collide with the bridge, which crosses the Arkansas River at the entrance of the Robert S. Kerr Reservoir, per The Associated Press. 

The bridge reopened several hours after the incident after engineers inspected the infrastructure and determined it was safe, according to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. 

The incident comes days after the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed, killing six construction workers, after a container vessel hit the structure.

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