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In rush to make ferry, driver gets stuck on boat ramp Wednesday morning

5 years 1 week 2 days ago Wednesday, March 20 2019 Mar 20, 2019 March 20, 2019 12:52 PM March 20, 2019 in News
Source: WBRZ

PLAQUEMINE – A movie scene played out in real life Wednesday morning on the Plaquemine ferry as a driver made one heck of an attempt at making sure they weren’t going to miss the boat.

A large sedan teetered over the ramp as it lifted from the boat deck, its front wheels hanging off the edge. A picture purportedly to be of the incident was posted to Facebook.

“This pretty much sums up living on the West Bank,” the woman wrote in the post with emojis showing desperation and frustration.

“I hope this is on the news!” another person responded.

While silly, the image and the discussion highlighted the desperation people have trying to cross the river with major issues delaying drive times. Issues on the Sunshine Bridge have plagued river crossings for months then just this week, a dump truck crashed into the Intracoastal Bridge in Port Allen, closing one of the two lanes and backing up traffic onto the interstate for miles.

Drivers are using the ferry more to avoid the two bridge issues, leading to gridlock along the levee where traffic stops to board the boat.

In the Facebook comments attached to the picture, another person posted her daughter spent two-and-a-half hours in ferry traffic Tuesday after the southbound lane closure on the Intracoastal Bridge.

The Facebook post insinuated there were no injuries and the car was never in jeopardy of falling into the water. Workers lowered the ramp and moved the boat’s gates to put the car back on a solid surface.

The state said this was an unfortunate lesson for drivers to pay attention.

"We'd like to remind drivers to follow proper procedure when boarding and exiting the ferry. Thankfully, this is an unusual circumstance," a DOTD spokesperson said. 

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Follow the publisher of this post on Twitter: @treyschmaltz

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