Second big barge carrying Buffalo-bound bridge expected through Orleans County today

Photos by Tom Rivers: These people take photos and watch a tugboat pushing a 195-foot-long barge on Monday through the Erie Canal in Holley.

Orleans County should get a second chance today to see a tugboat pushing an enormous barge carrying two sections of a pedestrian bridge.

Carver Companies from near Albany has spent two weeks directing two 195-foot-long barges along the canal. The barges are carrying four sections of a 266-foot-long pedestrian bridge for the Ralph Wilson Park Conservancy in Buffalo. The bridge was made in Italy.

Carver was able to get the first barge from near Rochester all the way through Orleans County and to Gasport on Monday. The barge reached its destination in Buffalo on Tuesday.

Carver had to send the tugboat back Wednesday to get the second barge. It made it to Adams Basin near Spencerport. The tugboat was scheduled to start the day at 6 a.m. and go to Rochester to get the second barge. Then it will head west from Rochester around 9 to 9:15 a.m., according to a Facebook post from Carver.

The company hasn’t posted an estimated time when it will be in Orleans County. Carver posts updates on its Facebook page for the ETAs.

The trek for the barges has been widely publicized in the media since the trip started in Albany. Many people have lined up along the canal or on bridges to get a glimpse of the tugboat and barge.

The tugboat “CMT Otter” has been getting a workout the past two weeks pushing barges carrying a pedestrian bridge that will be installed in Buffalo.