WPTV NBC West Palm Beach: Boaters concerned over loose wood planks near Loxahatchee River Bridge

Alyssa Hyman

LOXAHATCHEE, Fla. – Some concern about the Loxahatchee River Bridge was raised after one boater’s video and an email from the Tequesta Mayor.

All of this concern is growing over the prospect of All Aboard Florida coming through.

Railroad officials were quick to say that what the one boater found had nothing to do with the safety of the bridge itself.

Robert Arrington took the video while he was out boating with his wife. He spied the timber and towed it to land. Later, the Tequesta Mayor put out an email noting ongoing worries about All Aboard Florida trains that could be using the railway bridge in the next few years.

The Florida East Coast Railway emphasized that the timber was only part of a fence that surrounds and protects the bridge from passing boats.

Arrington says railway officials need to pay closer attention to the bridge and anything to do with its safety before moving on to these bigger projects like All Aboard Florida.

“Having a 15-hundred pound timber floating around in the open waterway, it can cause catastrophe to any boat. You think of all the families that use these waterways day in and day out,” said Arrington.

Railways officials assured us that the bridge itself is structurally sound, with about 15 trains crossing it each day.