Dive Brief:
- A struck-by accident killed a Skanska USA employee working on the $430 million Pensacola Bay Bridge in Pensacola, Florida, on April 28, the company confirmed to Construction Dive.
- A subcontractor on the project hit the worker, who has been identified by the Pensacola Police Department as 61-year-old Mark Carter, with a dump truck between the main bridge and the 17th Street overpass, according to Skanska.
- The project was temporarily shut down, but Skanska said work has since restarted. Local authorities are investigating the accident, as is Skanska.
Dive Insight:
"We are deeply saddened by the loss of our team member, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family and loved ones," the company said in a statement. "We are also focused on providing support to our workers on the project."
The bridge is set to re-open later this month after undergoing almost eight months of repairs. In September 2020, when Hurricane Sally swept by Pensacola, barges being used for the job broke loose and hit a recently opened new span, causing serious damage.
With the bridge's closure have come multiple lawsuits filed by local businesses claiming that the rerouting of traffic to another bridge has negatively impacted revenue, which had already taken a hit because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Skanska has sought to limit its liability in that respect by filing its own legal action seeking to have the barges classified as vessels under maritime law. If Skanska wins on that point, the company's maximum payout would be limited to approximately $1.5 million, which would be divided among all the plaintiffs seeking compensation from Skanska for allegedly harming their businesses.
A news report this week said the number of claims against the contractor is currently close to 1,000. Monday was the deadline for businessowners and residents who have been impacted by the bridge's outage to file suit, according to the Pensacola New Journal.
The 970 claimants who had filed as of Monday afternoon are largely made up of business owners and commuters, but Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, and the cities of Gulf Breeze and Pensacola, also had filed.
More filings may be added in the next week relating specifically to cases with damaged personal property as that has a different deadline, the newspaper reported.
