Key Bridge struck
 

The Francis Scott Key bridge or Key Bridge as we call it around here suffered a devastating strike by an out of control container ship. The information coming out suggest the ship lost propulsion, and thus directional control, before striking the bridge.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/photos-ba...124703206.html

https://youtu.be/YVdVpd-pqcM?si=iRKCNmLHQ-A3fFGp

Horrendous disaster. Loss of life, and huge economic impact. How long to replace that bridge--two years? More? There will be a lot of questions here--it's a totally man-made disaster.

Truly awful. As a Maryland-based (retired) civil engineer with a Baltimorean wife, this hits real close to home, literally and figuratively.

I saw a video of the bridge collapse, initially fascinated at the structural side of the collapse. And then reading about the possible economic impact, still shaking my head.

Here in the Bay Area when they replaced a portion of the Bay Bridge (non suspension portion), they built a new bridge alongside and this took several years. Same for the Benicia-Martinez bridge, parallel construction.

I cannot even fathom the cost of reconstruction.

What a tragedy and will be a ongoing hardship for a good while.

Seeing how quickly the span disintegrated is frighting to consider. Especially for other bridges built similarly.

Hide-site will be 20/20 on this one.

It's looks like the emergency protocol caused the direct hit. If they had de-coupled the prop, and done nothing else, that thing would have cleared the support pier (or at least side swiped it).

I'm no maritime expert, but I have a lifetime of panicking and over-reacting under my belt.

Coulda, woulda, shudda.

Here's a video leading up to when the bridge was struck. I believe it is from when they first lost power? To me it looks like the Dali was going to hit the bridge support no matter what. They managed to change the angle of the hit but that was all.

https://youtu.be/G0keBilRddk?si=WzvNkU7cDtJ5m2Ks

From what the guy said reversing the prop does, they may have pushed the bow toward the support, as BEC was suggesting. Whether they would have missed without that effect is more than I know.

The blast of smoke came from the engine revving up when they went full-astern. The increased RPM caused torque steer to starboard-side, when they wanted to go port-side. The newly released anchor acted as a fulcrum.

It's all elementary at this point.

It looks like the powers that be will have to bring in some Chinese engineers for fast reconstruction.
It is a regrettable conclusion.

Why Chinese engineers?

I'd figure they are the people with lots of recent experience building big bridges. We built all the ones we wanted, don't build them often now.

One report confused inertia for momentum, an all-too-common error. A stationary mass has inertia, a moving mass, momentum.

And feasibility study eats up a huge chunk of the funds.

The Derby City just built two bridges across the Ohio recently. There are many capable companies around. Old bridges require maintenance and repairs so the skills are still in use. Getting one that is open and available when the time comes will one of the major issues.

Trust this there are at least ten companies already working on a plan and design as of today.

One thing that will be addressed is prevention by way of Fender Barriers or Piers will not be overlooked as to expensive addition this time.....

I'm a retired structural engineer and both of my sons are also civil engineers. No shortage of engineers in the DMV. Bechtel has a huge presence in Reston, VA, for example. Lots of others too. Also, the Baltimore District of the Corps of Engineers is right there, though their involvement will likely be limited to clean-up and restoration of the shipping channel and removal of the ship. The subsequent construction will be interesting to watch.

Hardworking and brave immigrants are the engine driving the US economy.
Rest in peace, gentlemen. Descanse en paz y el más sentido pésame a sus familias.

"Officials identified the two victims whose bodies were recovered in the truck as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Baltimore, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Dundalk. Among others presumed dead are Miguel Luna, a husband and father of three from El Salvador; and Maynor Suazo Sandoval, a father of two from Honduras who was about to celebrate his 39th birthday." WP

Time for a whole new design. Add some Deutschlanders to the design team for some grudging panache. (grin)

Good thing we have a Democrat in the White House whose eyes are already laser focused on our aging and inadequate infrastructure.

Maybe this will lead to upgrades on other bridges that could use it?

Because the USA is reverse mortgaged and the stake holders will need to give the nod. Sort of like an HOA.

Your synapses fire differently.

As long as they don't get to pick the color of the paint, it'll be fine.

rotflmao...

Exclude anyone from Florida or California. There is construction on section of John Young Pkwy in Kissimmee Florida. It has been going on for about nine years. Nobody knows what is being constructed...more like a zigsaw puzzle.

Chinese again ?

Suppose they pick a paint color you like?

They'll whittle it down to a forced choice to fool the Americans into thinking they picked it.

Something like Olive Drab vs Honey Mustard. Except they'll both be nauseating.

It was Dondi's idea, what can I say ?

I was razzin' Dondi about his Pro-communist stance. Of course there will be a rational reconstruction of the Key Bridge.

There's something bizarre about the accident, though.

The Dali lost all electrical power for about 30 seconds, but the diesel engine kept running. The crew reports that the computers went out, everything electrical went out, and then came back on. The ship has a multitude of electrical systems, they don't all fail at the same time.

I don't know if they had any emergency lighting, but now they're saying the 'black box' stopped recording during that time. It's designed to keep recording, even without external power.

There only one thing that can cause that; EMP. And the EMP did not effect the lights on the bridge, or the vehicles on the bridge.

I was just messing with the huge effect of consultancy on the price and duration of construction.

I think we should have a poll with the most votes deciding the color. Maybe even two-tone.

I'm guessing, and of course it's only guessing, that a "perfect storm" of a combination of events that caused this.
I also wonder if they incorporate some sort of active system to warn if ships are straying out of the channel?

Isn't that what the pilots are for? Doubt a warning system would have helped since the ship lost its power. If the section that came down was a suspension type, margin of error will be much larger.

A capital suggestion.

I have never been further East than Chicago, and Lake Michigan is the only body of water I've seen that didn't have a visible shore on the other side.

I'm assuming that y'all have the same colors in Baltimore, no ?

My vote is Golden Wheat in the middle parts, with Chocolate Brown on the outer framing structure and support columns.

Half of the bridge should be black and orange, the other half black and purple (Orioles and Ravens).