Baltimore Key Bridge collapss

[china mom]

Here is some of the law enforcement radio traffic
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRTUqdkS/

 

[NYCgrrl]

That was one hit and the whole entire thing went down! That is just awful but doesn't it seem like that was maybe a little flimsy to go down like that? Or is it me?

Watching the Twin Towers crumble cured me of thinking engineers are gods

 

[dcassetta]

That was one hit and the whole entire thing went down! That is just awful but doesn't it seem like that was maybe a little flimsy to go down like that? Or is it me?

The ship hit the support pillar and that’s what caused the massive collapse. The structure of the bridge has to be carefully balanced with the weight, distributed evenly. The loss of that support pillar meant that there was no way for the bridge to sustain itself. My BIL is a civil engineer, and has seen videos of this, obviously. He said that if the ship had managed to hit the horizontal section of the bridge itself, that section would’ve fallen, but they might have been able to rebuild. But taking out the support pillar meant there was no possibility for the bridge to remain. The crew on the ship, evidently did the best they could. When The ship lost power they did call mayday they released their anchors, trying to slow the movement of the ship, but it just wasn’t enough.

 

[QueenIsabella]

From an engineering perspective, a bridge collapse is always fascinating. That's not to minimize the loss of life or vast destruction and disruption that come from this incident.

A direct hit on support, with that kind of mass, simply wouldn't ever be sustainable. If they were to try to design for it, the bridge would be terribly over-designed.

Kudos to the ship for calling "Mayday" and the quick response by the police prior to impact. Unfortunately, it will be years before Baltimore is made whole (port re-opened, bridge rebuilt, etc.)

 

[hrhdhd]

Watching the Twin Towers crumble cured me of thinking engineers are gods

Nothing can survive an impact from a plane going 500 MPH and fire from jet fuel. Blame the terrorists, not the engineers.

 

[Dead2009]

If you've never been to Baltimore, this is what its like driving over the bridge heading into the county

 

[NYCgrrl]

Nothing can survive an impact from a plane going 500 MPH and fire from jet fuel. Blame the terrorists, not the engineers.

Not denigrating engineers. Just noting a change in my perceptions.

 

[Moliphino]

Nothing can survive an impact from a plane going 500 MPH and fire from jet fuel. Blame the terrorists, not the engineers.

Granted I was 14 at the time, but I was impressed that the buildings stayed up as long as they did and didn't topple.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Granted I was 14 at the time, but I was impressed that the buildings stayed up as long as they did and didn't topple.

Isn’t that interesting about perceptions? Personally, I found little impressive about the day.

Fortunately for the majority of people on the Francis Scott Key Bridge they were able to escape the rapid fall of the structure.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Isn’t that interesting about perceptions? Personally, I found little impressive about the day.

Really? I was impressed with the stories of courage and selflessness in the face of unimaginable tragedy.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Really? I was impressed with the stories of courage and selflessness in the face of unimaginable tragedy.

Again it’s all about perceptions and I’m happy you found good in the day. I’m sure it’s comforting.

 

[GreatLakes]

Yes, for anyone getting these tools....make sure you get the correct kind. We have one that also breaks the laminated window, but you'd have to break it in several places, then kick the window out. The back windows would shatter...in my car anyway. Watch the videos of how to use them. The tool we have is also a seat belt cutter.

The sister of Elaine Chao....who died in her Tesla X must not have known how to open the door manually, and must have not have thought to roll the window down.....so, know how to do that in your car as well. We drive a Tesla Y and I know how to manually do that....open the door that is. I was surprised that nobody could google in her friend group to figure that out, but they were all drinking that night, so guess they were panicked.

It didn't help that Elaine's sister was fall down drunk either.

Reminds me of the Sunshine Skyway bridge collapse in Florida about 40 years ago, and I-35 in Minneapolis about 15 years ago.

That is the first thing I thought of as well.

Governor said in press conference the ship's crew sent a mayday they had lost control, and police were able to shut down the bridge, which is why so few vehicles were on the bridge.

I'm sure they saved a lot of lives even if the focus will be, rightfully, on those lost.

 

[ChrisFL]

What I don't understand is why there weren't barriers around the support pillars like there are at many other bridges to prevent this from happening? Just no infrastructure budget to pay for it like usual?

 

[Southernmiss]

What I don't understand is why there weren't barriers around the support pillars like there are at many other bridges to prevent this from happening? Just no infrastructure budget to pay for it like usual?

I heard a report yesterday on NPR that there was a support there at least several years ago as another ship hit it. But did not do serious damage to the bridge because of the barrier.

The speculation was that the ship in the previous incident was not as large or heavy as ships are now.

 

[gmi3804]

Watching the Twin Towers crumble cured me of thinking engineers are gods

Getting body-slammed by The Rock and blaming your broken bones on a calcium deficiency.

 

[easyas123]

What I don't understand is why there weren't barriers around the support pillars like there are at many other bridges to prevent this from happening? Just no infrastructure budget to pay for it like usual?

As I understand it there was talk for years after 911 of adding these type of barriers, but once they got around to the nuts and bolts of it they deemed it to not be in the budget. With that being said I've also heard it explained by more than that one that even if the barriers had been installed, the structure was just not up to withstanding the impact of a ship that large.

 

[Dead2009]

The bridge was also built in '77, the anniversary was just a few days before this happened.

 

[BrianL]

As I understand it there was talk for years after 911 of adding these type of barriers, but once they got around to the nuts and bolts of it they deemed it to not be in the budget. With that being said I've also heard it explained by more than that one that even if the barriers had been installed, the structure was just not up to withstanding the impact of a ship that large.

Yeah, I think even with protection in place, that ship weighs around 100,000 Tons. The impact force was extremely high and I don't know that anything could have prevented severe damage.

 

[Wiltony]

Not denigrating engineers. Just noting a change in my perceptions.

You previously perceived engineers as able to design skyscrapers to withstand impacts from airliners? I'm absolutely taken aback at the implication that there was an engineering failure that contributed to the collapse of the world trade center towers!

 

[dcassetta]

As I understand it there was talk for years after 911 of adding these type of barriers, but once they got around to the nuts and bolts of it they deemed it to not be in the budget. With that being said I've also heard it explained by more than that one that even if the barriers had been installed, the structure was just not up to withstanding the impact of a ship that large.

That's what my BIL said. Literally, nothing except filling the basin with barriers would have prevented this. And, filling the basin with barriers defeats the purpose of the basin.