Hart Bridge closed both ways after crane strike, with no reopening time

Two directions closed, no reopening time: Jacksonville’s Hart Bridge was taken out of service after a crane aboard a southbound barge struck the span on Wednesday evening, November 4. At the latest verified inspection update, at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, crews still had not completed the examination needed to decide whether traffic could safely return.⁠¹

The closure removed the St. Johns River crossing near EverBank Stadium from motorists’ options in both directions. Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office personnel were redirecting traffic and advising drivers to find another route. The immediate disruption was established; whether the strike caused damage requiring repairs or a longer shutdown was not.⁠¹

Action News Jax’s account places the collision at about 7 p.m., correcting an earlier estimate of about 6 p.m. The barge was attempting to pass south beneath the Hart Bridge when its crane struck the span. The cause of that contact has not been established in the available reporting.⁠¹

The Florida Department of Transportation’s stated condition for reopening was safety clearance, not the passage of a set number of hours. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are closing the bridge until inspectors (can ensure its safety),” agency spokesman Hampton Ray told Action News Jax.⁠¹

That distinction matters. A precautionary shutdown is a decision to keep vehicles off the bridge while its condition is uncertain. It is not, by itself, a finding of structural damage. Equally, the absence of a confirmed damage finding at that stage was not a declaration that the crossing was safe.

The obstacle at the 9 p.m. update was specific: inspectors had seen where the crane struck, but had not been able to get close enough to complete a full examination. Some inspection personnel were already at the bridge, while crews waited for an additional engineer. An under-bridge inspection machine had been mobilized to help reach the span.⁠¹

Action News Jax described the strike as being on the side toward the Mathews Bridge. That locates the contact only broadly. The precise bridge component affected and the extent of any damage had not been established. Seeing the strike location was a step toward an assessment, not the completed assessment itself.⁠¹

First Coast News’s report, updated at 8:36 p.m., also described a closure pending a determination that the bridge was safe. Action News Jax’s later 9 p.m. detail extended that picture: the examination was still unfinished. Neither account established a reopening, and neither supplied a reliable time for motorists to plan their return to the crossing.⁠¹⁠²

For drivers, the verified instruction was to use another route. No specific detour, measured delay or queue length was confirmed in the reporting. The two-way closure was consequential on its own, but there is not enough information to quantify how far its traffic effects spread or how much time individual journeys gained.⁠¹⁠²

There was also no confirmed injury outcome for anyone aboard the barge, and the operator had not been identified. Those are unanswered questions, not evidence that nobody was hurt. The same restraint applies to the bridge: neither significant damage nor an absence of damage should be inferred from the information available so far.⁠¹⁠²

Earlier Hart Bridge reopening reports do not resolve this closure. News4JAX and First Coast News covered a separate maritime incident on October 2, 2023, after which the bridge reopened. Action News Jax’s coverage of that episode described a crane on a barge overturning nearby. Those accounts concern a different event, not clearance following Wednesday evening’s strike.⁠⁹⁠¹⁰⁠⁶

The next consequential information is an inspection finding: either clearance for traffic to return or an explanation of why restrictions must continue. Until that is established, the last confirmed picture is bounded by the 9 p.m. update—a crossing closed both ways, crews still working toward a complete examination, and no announced reopening time.⁠¹