A container ship crashed into one of the bridge’s supports early Tuesday, causing it to snap in several places and plunge into the river below. Several vehicles fell into the chilly waters, and rescuers were searching for at least seven people.
Two people were pulled from the waters under the Francis Scott Key Bridge, one in serious condition, according to Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace.
The vessel caught fire, and thick, black smoke billowed out of it.
this ship was commissioned by a Danish company, on it's way to India
The Dali is a vessel in the Britannia Protection & Indemnity Club, underwriters with Lloyd's of London, the oldest such maritime insurance group in the world.
That's one FRAGILE looking bridge
If carrier ships hitting bridges is something you want another story about, this reminded me of the 1975 Tasman Bridge, 150 high, hit by an ore carrier https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/05/in-1975-moron-was-allowed-to-pilot-ore.html
Some time after 1980, AASHTO implemented requirements of design for barge/ship impact of bridge over navigable waterways. These requirements did not include bridges already built or under construction at the time. It was a gamble the coastal & the Mississippi basin states had no choice but to make. Many states were unable to afford retrofitting their existing bridges due to construction costs, delays due to environmental permitting (everything you put into a river changes the flow) and the challenge designing a retrofit that wouldn't cause more harm than good. The openings under most bridges are just barely wide enough as it is, adding dolphins or islands would simply cut most ships out of port access.
ReplyDeleteIf this happened in Japan repair contracts would be awarded within a week and work would start immediatly. Here the EPA impact reports will take months fill out, be denied and done again.
ReplyDeleteYup, everywhere, or anywhere else, the priority would be getting the job done right, and service restored. Not here. The eviromental wackos will scream for never replacing the bridge because of a guppy or frog, or migratory bird.
DeleteThe number of surveys, and studies, and all that are ridiculous... just to discover IF any critters will be "impacted" by replacing a bridge that's been there for 5 or 6 decades.
Then there's the problems with finding a bridge builder WILLING to put up with the hassle of working in the USA, and the unions, and bid process for the contract, etc etc.
No way that bridge is begun in less than 3 months. That's my guess.