What a Terrible Disaster
 

Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore harbor collapses after being hit by a ship.

What a terrible disaster.

Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after ship crash

Lots of speculation. Some people are talking about needing more redundancy in the bridge structure. But, looking at the size and weight of the ship compared to the bridge structure, the bridge didn't have a chance.

Such a loss.

Who's response?

Port of Baltimore Cargo
 

Overview of what freight the harbor handles:


Port Of Baltimore - Key Facts And Figures

The cargo was being transported for a company in Denmark. It was being lead out of the harbor by a local harbor pilot, which is standard operation. Local people bring the ships in and out of the harbors, to and from open water, because local people know the harbors best.

There was smoke coming out super thick and black from the smokestack, which means something wasn't right. The smoke started during the approach to the bridge, before the power went out the first time.

Seems to me it was a horrible accident caused by some kind of electrical/engine failure.

I've seen those ships close up... you're right, the bridge didn't have a chance.

Most likely had a harbor pilot on board. Some reports are saying the ship reported a loss of maneuverability and warned of a collision. Those ships cannot stop quickly when they have an engine to help; without engine power they coast a long ways.

That is a critical bridge in Baltimore if I remember correctly. Back in the mid to late 1960s I drove across it many times.

Must have been an earlier version of the bridge. Reports indicates this one was opened in 1977.

Only OP and #2 to choose from and I see nothing "head shaker" about either one. ???

See Post No. 5. There was another post that was apparently removed by TOTV.

You are correct.

I just saw on the news that two people in a vehicle have been saved so far, thank goodness! Also heard that someone/people stopped traffic from entering the bridge when they saw what was happening. From what I understand, it’s a toll bridge, so they are able to determine whose vehicles were on the bridge when it collapsed. So sad. Also, the cargo ship did lose power and radioed that before the collision.

I doubt that would be much use. I believe the tolls in both directions are collected at the same place. This means while southbound tolls are collected approaching the bridge, northbound tolls are collected as you leave the bridge.

There would be a record of southbound vehicles approaching the bridge at the time but no record of whether they were over the bridge when the collapse occurred.

There would be a record of northbound vehicles that exited the bridge at the time but no record of vehicles that might have been on the bridge.

Being from the Baltimore area until moving here in Oct2023, I have been over that bridge many times. The loss of life is just terrible. I have also been under that bridge many times cruising out the cruise port there. I never liked the bridge because it was the reason larger cruise ships could not come in. Going under it if you were on the top deck, you could almost touch the bottom of the bridge. My wife and I looked forward to that and going under the Bay bridge.
My un informed opinion was and is that it was an albatross. Not much use from such an expense. What a shame it had to end this way and people had to lose their lives.

I am also from Baltimore. Weren't there 2 bridges and 2 tunnels? If so, rerouting the traffic should be doable.

There are currently two highway tunnels. I was wondering about the bridge, I remember crossing a bridge that seemed incredibly long in the 1970s, but probably earlier than 1977. I do not remember all of the steel work from this one. Does anyone else remember the earlier bridge? Was it long? & with a more 'open' design than this one?

One bridge and two tunnels.

Road work often has lanes of one of the tunnels closed.

Hazmat material is not allowed in the tunnels, not sure about car-carrier vehicles. Over-land routes both through the city and around it are terribly congested already.

Re-routing is doable, but it's going to be painful.

You might be thinking of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge near Annapolis. That bridge was opened in 1952 and is about four miles long. I believe there is more steel work than the Key bridge but since the Bay bridge is so much longer it would feel like there was less.

The second span of the Bay bridge, the westbound span, opened in 1973. This span has less steel work than the original, eastbound span.

That is what he said. I wonder who he thinks the "stupids" are?

The lawyers will have a field day

This might interest you. Decide for yourselves if it means something. Quite a coincidence.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/i...?itok=0uE6kh_o

We better pay attention to this!
 

Prayers for those lost.
Bridges need to be protected from such accidents at all costs. A problem for engineers for sure, but absolutely necessary. How many ports including NYC have Bridges at their entrances? Not only is the seaway lost but a crucial highway that will result in detours and congestion for years. This is a national security issue needing to be addresses at all costs.

Can someone explain why almost the entire bridge collapsed when only one bridge pier was involved?

Is every bridge this vulnerable? Or was the design selected to save money and time?

Found this:

Engineers blame $3m structural 'flaw' for Baltimore's Francis Scott Key bridge collapsing - and tens of thousands of bridges across US could also have fault | Daily Mail Online

The Francis Scott Key Bridge was a continuous truss bridge, which can fail if it loses one support pillar. Multiple high-profile failures of such bridges have occurred, and thousands remain across waterways throughout the US.

A slightly larger budget would have allowed for more protection that may have significantly limited the damage.

Long
 

Third longest span in the world at 1200 feet. Nothing was stopping that ship.

This response is a non sequitur to my post.

Completely Logical
 

Completely logical…the truss was 1200 feet long. 100,000 tons at 12 knots, name a bridge pile that would not buckle under that force. If that pile goes the bridge should and would totally collapse.

It is a large revenue loss for the state who collected 50 plus million a year for little maintenance.

I’m from B’More as well and also traversed that bridge many times going back and forth to work. A very sad day in our hometown 😢.

So you disagree with the engineers in the article?
A slightly larger budget would have allowed for more protection that may have significantly limited the damage.
What are your credentials?

One engineer commented there should be structures in place around these main supports to be a first point of contact for out-of-control ships that don't compromise the bridge. When the newer Chesapeake Bay bridge was built, the islands of concrete they build for the major span supports were very impressive and much larger than the span steel that went into them. It was amazing to watch every time we crossed the old bridge.

Sameh Badie, a professor of engineering at George Washington University, discussed the collapse of Francis Scott Key Bridge on NBC Washington on Tuesday, explaining that the structure of the bridge could not handle the load of its span after one piece had been destroyed in the collision.

Badie said that the Key Bridge is a continuous steel truss bridge. When the cargo vessel collided with one of the more central piers of the bridge, it could no longer sustain the full span of its weight, causing the collapse, Badie said.

Clearly the state is culpable. They reported collecting 52 million in tolls from the bridge last year. The state should have used their cash cow on bridge maintenance?

Matriculation isn’t important, physics is.

I don't see a contradiction between the professor and the article.

Truss bridges particularly vulnerable to cracks, collapse
NEW BEDFORD — It was in the 1950s and '60s that engineers began to steer clear of truss bridges of the sort that collapsed in Minneapolis last week.

But the mid-'60s was also the heyday of interstate highway construction and truss bridges still had the advantages they had since railroad pioneers made them out of wood: they are relatively cheap to build, and cheaper still when engineers became more confident in their materials and could build them "lighter and stronger."


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Yes, terrible. Prayers for those involved.

That bridge looked like a dinosaur. How is it that a bridge like that was subjected to this threat for YEARS. Why wasn't a technologically sufficient bridge put in years ago??

Raises the question exactly where is the $$ trillions for "infrastructure" going in this country??

Clearly not toward the re-design of critical water way commerce travel under prehistoric bridges.

Significantly, that quote does not appear in the article you linked. However, this quote does:

Nonetheless, he explained that not all protection systems will be up to the task of stopping a more than 100,000-ton ship like the Dali, and sometimes these accidents will simply happen due to human error - or as early reports indicated in this case, power failure.

It is a fact that the protection systems that were in place for the Key Bridge were not up to the task of stopping the "more than 100,000-ton ship like the Dali." But do such protection systems even exist? How much land is required to beach a ship that size to prevent it from striking the bridge? It is possible there would be no channel left if sufficient space was set aside for a protection system to ward off a 100,000+ ton ship.

It is easy to Monday-morning quaterback, especially when you have no skin in the game. It is much more difficult when you try to design a perfect system in the real world.

I thought tug boats steered ships out of harbors, even though there was a harbor master on board clearly he could do nothing. Seems like tug boats could have prevented this tragedy.

I know it's early, BUT not much re the SHIP'S owners responsibility and culpability. Insurance should remit for their liability in this disaster. As usual, the knee-jerk is ---- the Fed govt will pay to rebuild etc etc. Must there be lawsuits after WE pay to get relief. The USA taxpayer always seems to be the easy mark.

The owners of this ship are registered in Singapore and have hundreds of these cargo ships. Who CAUSED this disaster??? Not the bridge engineers, but the source - the SHIP.

Pay up ship owners/insurance companies!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They need to do what they did for the Sunshine Skyway after it was hit and collapsed. They placed huge concrete barriers by the supports so ships would hit them and not the support.

Scott Key Bridge
 

Already conspiricy theories going around. They are saying it was done intentionally to disrupt the supply chain. Thoughts?