Francis Scott Key Bridge (I-695) in Baltimore collapes (1 Viewer)

[culdeus]

Latest update on CNN:

Ship issued "mayday" before colliding into bridge, governor says

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said crew on the ship were able to issue a "mayday" before colliding into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which allowed authorities to stop traffic from going on the bridge.

"We're thankful that between the 'mayday' and collapse that-that we had officials who were able to-to begin the stop the flow of traffic so more cars were not up on the bridge," Moore said.

Amazing. How does that work. Is it a toll bridge and they can stop people?

 

[Desert_Power]

@The Z Machine: Hope you guys are OK.

 

[rockaction]

I feel a little bit sick and very sad. I used to take that bridge every so often from Alexandria, VA, into Georgetown, D.C. I remember taking it one particular day when I was hungover and the weather had changed from rain to a bright sunshine. Just remember coming off of the bridge right into Georgetown on a weekend, which meant there were people out and about all walking around and shopping. You go straight from going gangbusters on the highway to the bridge and right into an upscale, university-style town and city setting. It was a surreal feeling that day for some reason.

God bless those workers that were reportedly working on the bridge at the time of its collapse.

This is the Key Bridge in Baltimore, rock.

Thanks, Uruk. I didn't even see Baltimore in the reports. Just so everybody knows, there's a Key Bridge in D.C., too. The Wikipedia page should have warned me as it says that there are two Francis Scott Key Bridges, one in Baltimore and one going from Arlington (not Alexandria) to D.C.

 

[Kanil]

Watching the video, I was surprised at how fast it all came down. When you see something like that in the movies it always comes down section by section allowing the good guy to make the final jump to safety but the whole thing fell in like a second. Surreal.

 

[zamboni]

Latest update on CNN:

Ship issued "mayday" before colliding into bridge, governor says

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said crew on the ship were able to issue a "mayday" before colliding into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which allowed authorities to stop traffic from going on the bridge.

"We're thankful that between the 'mayday' and collapse that-that we had officials who were able to-to begin the stop the flow of traffic so more cars were not up on the bridge," Moore said.

Amazing. How does that work. Is it a toll bridge and they can stop people?

I guess several state highway/city police officers rushed ahead to pull in front, but I'm sure it wasn't easy stopping everyone in time.

 

[zamboni]

Watching the video, I was surprised at how fast it all came down. When you see something like that in the movies it always comes down section by section allowing the good guy to make the final jump to safety but the whole thing fell in like a second. Surreal.

I thought the same thing - I've seen forcibly imploded bridges coming down that fast, but not due to a collision. Kind of calls into question how structurally sound it was in the first place.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Obviously this isn't the main thing right now, but this is a useful time to check in on your social media feed and see how it's doing. Are the accounts that you follow telling you to chill and let this story develop, or is it overreacting and feeding you conspiracy theories? People who freak out in response to one breaking news story tend to freak out in response to all of them.

Or is it AI/bots and not real people at all, which if you're on X these days is probably the likeliest case.

america;

-what a tragedy
-hmm, conspiracy….
-terrorists
-who can we blame
-political comments
-name calling

If this is what your TL looks like, it is time to prune your TL. That's my point.

 

[3C's]

Latest update on CNN:

Ship issued "mayday" before colliding into bridge, governor says

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said crew on the ship were able to issue a "mayday" before colliding into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which allowed authorities to stop traffic from going on the bridge.

"We're thankful that between the 'mayday' and collapse that-that we had officials who were able to-to begin the stop the flow of traffic so more cars were not up on the bridge," Moore said.

Amazing. How does that work. Is it a toll bridge and they can stop people?

Not really sure. All of our bridge-tunnels have a means to stop traffic and the two major bridges I can think of here are span opening so they also have a way to stop traffic. Maybe with it being a major crossing with port traffic they also have barriers to block traffic. Have to imagine the mayday only gave them a minute or so to react.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

I feel a little bit sick and very sad. I used to take that bridge every so often from Alexandria, VA, into Georgetown, D.C. I remember taking it one particular day when I was hungover and the weather had changed from rain to a bright sunshine. Just remember coming off of the bridge right into Georgetown on a weekend, which meant there were people out and about all walking around and shopping. You go straight from going gangbusters on the highway to the bridge and right into an upscale, university-style town and city setting. It was a surreal feeling that day for some reason.

God bless those workers that were reportedly working on the bridge at the time of its collapse.

This is the Key Bridge in Baltimore, rock.

Thanks, Uruk. I didn't even see Baltimore in the reports. Just so everybody knows, there's a Key Bridge in D.C., too. The Wikipedia page should have warned me as it says that there are two Francis Scott Key Bridges, one in Baltimore and one going from Arlington (not Alexandria) to D.C.

I worked in Dundalk for a couple of years and drove across the Key Bridge in Baltimore every work day. I hated that bridge - it's long and tall with buffeting winds.

 

[Dr_Zaius]

Watching the video, I was surprised at how fast it all came down. When you see something like that in the movies it always comes down section by section allowing the good guy to make the final jump to safety but the whole thing fell in like a second. Surreal.

I thought the same thing - I've seen forcibly imploded bridges coming down that fast, but not due to a collision. Kind of calls into question how structurally sound it was in the first place.

One of the initial reports claims the bridge was inspected in 2021 and rated as "fair", so it should be sound enough. All of the load is being transferred to those supports, though, so if one gets catastrophically taken out you can see how it could instantly destabilize the structure. The speed of collapse still surprised me, FWIW.

 

[Dr_Zaius]

I worked in Dundalk for a couple of years and drove across the Key Bridge in Baltimore every work day. I hated that bridge - it's long and tall with buffeting winds.

Yeah some of those big spans can be harrowing. I drove over US-301 across the Potomac during a winter storm with high winds a couple years ago. White knuckle driving for sure.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Obviously this isn't the main thing right now, but this is a useful time to check in on your social media feed and see how it's doing. Are the accounts that you follow telling you to chill and let this story develop, or is it overreacting and feeding you conspiracy theories? People who freak out in response to one breaking news story tend to freak out in response to all of them.

Or is it AI/bots and not real people at all, which if you're on X these days is probably the likeliest case.

america;

-what a tragedy
-hmm, conspiracy….
-terrorists
-who can we blame
-political comments
-name calling

That's very optimistic of you to have political comments that far down the list but I made the mistake of looking at the comments/replies to the twitter videos posted in this thread and, whooo-boy it did not take anywhere near that long.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

I worked in Dundalk for a couple of years and drove across the Key Bridge in Baltimore every work day. I hated that bridge - it's long and tall with buffeting winds.

Yeah some of those big spans can be harrowing. I drove over US-301 across the Potomac during a winter storm with high winds a couple years ago. White knuckle driving for sure.

The 301 bridge was frightening. I got stuck on it once near the top due to an accident and thought I was going to have a heart attack. They've recently rebuilt it and the approach ramps begin much further back so the slope isn't as severe as on the old bridge, but it still goes WAY up.

 

[Chemical X]

Obviously this isn't the main thing right now, but this is a useful time to check in on your social media feed and see how it's doing. Are the accounts that you follow telling you to chill and let this story develop, or is it overreacting and feeding you conspiracy theories? People who freak out in response to one breaking news story tend to freak out in response to all of them.

Or is it AI/bots and not real people at all, which if you're on X these days is probably the likeliest case.

america;

-what a tragedy
-hmm, conspiracy….
-terrorists
-who can we blame
-political comments
-name calling

That's very optimistic of you to have political comments that far down the list but I made the mistake of looking at the comments/replies to the twitter videos posted in this thread and, whooo-boy it did not take anywhere near that long.

after conspiracy and before terrorists?

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Obviously this isn't the main thing right now, but this is a useful time to check in on your social media feed and see how it's doing. Are the accounts that you follow telling you to chill and let this story develop, or is it overreacting and feeding you conspiracy theories? People who freak out in response to one breaking news story tend to freak out in response to all of them.

Or is it AI/bots and not real people at all, which if you're on X these days is probably the likeliest case.

america;

-what a tragedy
-hmm, conspiracy….
-terrorists
-who can we blame
-political comments
-name calling

That's very optimistic of you to have political comments that far down the list but I made the mistake of looking at the comments/replies to the twitter videos posted in this thread and, whooo-boy it did not take anywhere near that long.

after conspiracy and before terrorists?

Pretty much reply #1. And probably 7 out of the first 10 with the rest being conspiracy.

 

[Chemical X]

Obviously this isn't the main thing right now, but this is a useful time to check in on your social media feed and see how it's doing. Are the accounts that you follow telling you to chill and let this story develop, or is it overreacting and feeding you conspiracy theories? People who freak out in response to one breaking news story tend to freak out in response to all of them.

Or is it AI/bots and not real people at all, which if you're on X these days is probably the likeliest case.

america;

-what a tragedy
-hmm, conspiracy….
-terrorists
-who can we blame
-political comments
-name calling

That's very optimistic of you to have political comments that far down the list but I made the mistake of looking at the comments/replies to the twitter videos posted in this thread and, whooo-boy it did not take anywhere near that long.

after conspiracy and before terrorists?

Pretty much reply #1. And probably 7 out of the first 10 with the rest being conspiracy.

'murica!

 

[ghostguy123]

How many of the comments were from actual people rather than chat bots?

 

[Chicago Hooligan]

Looks like a number of big brain gigachads are driving or running towards the ruined bridge to do their own research.

 

[3C's]

One of my biggest fears come to life. Just a nightmare scenario.

I'd have to assume they use local pilots that know their way to get them out into the ocean.

Saw video…looks like the ship lost power twice as it approached.

And yes total nightmare scenario.

Yeah, saw that. Just assuming that like here they have specialized pilots that take control of the ship to bring it into and out of port, rather than leaving it to the ship's captain. Even with the loss of power he seemed to be awful close to the piling but that could be a result of the camera angle. When power came back the ship's stern seemed to swing around pointing it at the piling. Will be interesting to hear what the crew/captain/pilot say.

Maybe this is why it swung around a bit?

Ship dropped its anchor as part of emergency procedure before impact, transportation agency says

 

[Scoresman]

Looks like a number of big brain gigachads are driving or running towards the ruined bridge to do their own research.

And everybody's suddenly an expert civil engineer.

"The bridge collapsed too fast. It must've had other structural issues"

"They shouldn't build bridges like that. They could collapse at any time"

 

[Ministry of Pain]

What I want to know is why weren't there dolphins (impact attenuators) on the sides of the piers that an errant ship would hit instead to prevent this.

Great question. Those of us in the Tampa area know about these all too well. See Skyway Bridge collapse

Baltimore bridge collapse echoes 1980 Sunshine Skyway Bridge disaster in Tampa Bay

The shocking collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday morning gives people in the Bay Area some frightening flashbacks to another disaster.

www.fox13news.com

It was the 1st thing I thought of when I saw the 1:30am video of the Baltimore Bridge
In 1980, a similar type barge hit a "Microburst" and instantly blinded the captain who dropped both anchors in an attempt to stop and simply couldn't
I don't believe the captain of the ship in 1980 was ever actually charged with anything, I could be wrong of course

https://www.wfla.com/news/hillsborough-county/baltimores-key-bridge-collapse-brings-back-memories-of-sunshine-skyway-bridge-tragedy/

If you scroll down just a little you see the picture of the car that almost went over, last car to safely not fall into the water.

My goes out to the city of Baltimore and the citizens that live around there.
There will be a lot of conspiracy theories, I prefer to let the professionals investigate and report back, until that happens nobody really knows what happened.
I know thoughts and prayers don't mean a whole lot to some folks but the intention is to show empathy for anyone that was impacted by this.
Tragedy all the way around, and there's still missing people last I heard.

 

[belljr]

I worked in Dundalk for a couple of years and drove across the Key Bridge in Baltimore every work day. I hated that bridge - it's long and tall with buffeting winds.

Yeah some of those big spans can be harrowing. I drove over US-301 across the Potomac during a winter storm with high winds a couple years ago. White knuckle driving for sure.

The 301 bridge was frightening. I got stuck on it once near the top due to an accident and thought I was going to have a heart attack. They've recently rebuilt it and the approach ramps begin much further back so the slope isn't as severe as on the old bridge, but it still goes WAY up.

Obviously don't live there but have been over all the bridges and tunnels numerous numerous times. I always hated the Key bridge. It was "scary". REading its the second biggest bridge of its type makes sense

 

[belljr]

Latest update on CNN:

Ship issued "mayday" before colliding into bridge, governor says

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said crew on the ship were able to issue a "mayday" before colliding into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which allowed authorities to stop traffic from going on the bridge.

"We're thankful that between the 'mayday' and collapse that-that we had officials who were able to-to begin the stop the flow of traffic so more cars were not up on the bridge," Moore said.

Amazing. How does that work. Is it a toll bridge and they can stop people?

I guess several state highway/city police officers rushed ahead to pull in front, but I'm sure it wasn't easy stopping everyone in time.

Yeah there is a big stretch of roadway before approaching the bridge - I'd guess they closed the roads.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Looks like a number of big brain gigachads are driving or running towards the ruined bridge to do their own research.

And everybody's suddenly an expert civil engineer.

"The bridge collapsed too fast. It must've had other structural issues"

"They shouldn't build bridges like that. They could collapse at any time"

I would seriously caution folks to not jump to conclusions.
The last thing on my mind is this was done on purpose by either an individual or group

-Maybe the captain fell asleep at 1:30 in the morning, we don't really know and it's going to take weeks before investigators can gather all the information and form a conclusion
I made that up but it's more plausible than some of the conspiracies that will likely circulate

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Occam's Razor - the ship malfunctioned

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Terrible scenes early this morning as a cargo ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore - causing the collapse of the bridge.

https://x.com/bluez_bb/status/1772569493010550801?s=20

I see there are two threads, I didn't see this complete video until just now.
I don't enjoy watching TV/News and rely on the internet a lot, saw the tail end of this video and my heart sank
Thanks for posting this, doesn't explain anything but it gives a better understanding to what unfolded and perhaps why
The 2 power outages on the ship are disturbing and the smoke coming out, seems like something really bad happened to that ship.
Watching that bridge collapse is scary

 

[Fat Nick]

I've fished via boat around that bridge a lot. My parents have a place across the bay from there. Bridge pilings are always hot-spots for fish, so we've gotten up quite close. I've always looked at that bridge and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge a little south and wondered how sound those pilings are.

In reading some local Patapsco River fishing groups, it seems like this was just a worst-case scenario. I don't think anyone expected a collapse like that, but you have to look at how much span is covered by each of those pilings and just figure if one goes, you're gonna lose a lot of the bridge. The Chesapeake Bay bridge probably isn't as exposed, but it's still not impervious.

 

[PIK95]

This is one of my nightmares come to life. I am frightened of bridges. Horrible.

We have a bad bridge situation here in Rhode Island. They just shut it down out of the blue a couple of months back. It was in danger of collapse. Its a super busy highway bridge, that is also the main route from Providence to Cape Cod. It's route 195 just off 95. Pete B has been here a couple of times and it looks like a three year complete rebuild. Anyway, they routed all traffic to the five lane half of the bridge that goes east, and it's been horrific traffic. The possibility of the bridge collapsing under all this constant five lane weight scares the crap out of me. I pass over it four times a week. Tonight I will probably go the extra thirty minute north route to stay off it. Horrible situation for those people in Baltimore.

 

[Fat Nick]

Also - I think the video on X that most folks are seeing is sped up / time lapsed slightly. I could be wrong...but I don't think the actual collapse was QUITE as fast as it seems. Maybe I'm wrong...I saw another actual video that was a bit slower.

 

[belljr]

I've fished via boat around that bridge a lot. My parents have a place across the bay from there. Bridge pilings are always hot-spots for fish, so we've gotten up quite close. I've always looked at that bridge and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge a little south and wondered how sound those pilings are.

In reading some local Patapsco River fishing groups, it seems like this was just a worst-case scenario. I don't think anyone expected a collapse like that, but you have to look at how much span is covered by each of those pilings and just figure if one goes, you're gonna lose a lot of the bridge. The Chesapeake Bay bridge probably isn't as exposed, but it's still not impervious.

I think the CBB is shorter pilings and is not a suspension bridge. Plus I think the channel is only deep enough over the tunnels....... Obvioulsy hope we never actually find out

 

[belljr]

Also - I think the video on X that most folks are seeing is sped up / time lapsed slightly. I could be wrong...but I don't think the actual collapse was QUITE as fast as it seems. Maybe I'm wrong...I saw another actual video that was a bit slower.

Yeah I didn't realize that - I think you are right. Because it was like 2 minutes from the last time the lights went off before collision in the video its like 5 seconds

 

[massraider]

What's the alternatives for traffic, has anyone seen a decent post in the subject?

 

[massraider]

but I made the mistake of looking at the comments/replies to the twitter videos

You know, I know you knew it was a mistake the second you did it, but what's really annoying is people you follow amplifying the really outrageous stuff to make fun of it.

It's actually worse that the original dumb comment

 

[belljr]

What's the alternatives for traffic, has anyone seen a decent post in the subject?

Luckily there are many alternative routes in the area. Obviously will be much more congested and longer, than normal

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Latest update on CNN:

Ship issued "mayday" before colliding into bridge, governor says

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said crew on the ship were able to issue a "mayday" before colliding into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which allowed authorities to stop traffic from going on the bridge.

"We're thankful that between the 'mayday' and collapse that-that we had officials who were able to-to begin the stop the flow of traffic so more cars were not up on the bridge," Moore said.

Amazing. How does that work. Is it a toll bridge and they can stop people?

I guess several state highway/city police officers rushed ahead to pull in front, but I'm sure it wasn't easy stopping everyone in time.

Yeah there is a big stretch of roadway before approaching the bridge - I'd guess they closed the roads.

The Port Authority police are right there and they do not play around. It's also a toll bridge, so I'm sure the plaza gates helped.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Okay physics guys - if we want to calculate the force the thing hit with is it mass (which would be gigantic) times deceleration?

 

[Fat Nick]

I've fished via boat around that bridge a lot. My parents have a place across the bay from there. Bridge pilings are always hot-spots for fish, so we've gotten up quite close. I've always looked at that bridge and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge a little south and wondered how sound those pilings are.

In reading some local Patapsco River fishing groups, it seems like this was just a worst-case scenario. I don't think anyone expected a collapse like that, but you have to look at how much span is covered by each of those pilings and just figure if one goes, you're gonna lose a lot of the bridge. The Chesapeake Bay bridge probably isn't as exposed, but it's still not impervious.

I think the CBB is shorter pilings and is not a suspension bridge. Plus I think the channel is only deep enough over the tunnels....... Obvioulsy hope we never actually find out

The CBB is only ~30-40' off the water for a lot of the span. One section has finger pilings that sort of jut into the water at angles, and the older span has concrete pilings. If those got hit, #1, it couldn't be by a big boat as it's only 15' or so deep for a lot of that area, and #2, if it did collapse, it'd only be a few hundred yards of deck tops. The span that runs over the main shipping channel has a few pilings that are super solid, like solid concrete structures and look like an obelisk. Then there are a few that come out of rock piles that I have to imagine are protected pretty well...but there are still a few that are the concrete "H" style that look like they'd be prone to damage and in deep enough water.

The CBB pilings are actually really interesting because they use so many different types. Obviously there's an old span and a new span, but even within spans, there are different styles used.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

What's the alternatives for traffic, has anyone seen a decent post in the subject?

Luckily there are many alternative routes in the area. Obviously will be much more congested and longer, than normal

Regular traffic can use the tunnels. Haz-mat haulers will have to go around the west side of I-695 if they are running I-95 - that is a hump. I would also think that truckers coming from the deeper North or South may run I-81.

 

[massraider]

Regular traffic can use the tunnels. Haz-may haulers will have to go around the west side of I-695 if they are running I-95 - that is a hump. I would also think that truckers coming from the deeper North or South may run I-81

That's what I was wondering, if they had to go around the city

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Civil engineer explains why Baltimore bridge so easily collapsed​

The Francis Scott Key Bridge's collapse was all but inevitable once a cargo ship rammed into one of the bridge's main supports, according to one expert.
Shocking video shows the moment the bridge appears to snap and fall apart into the Patapsco River. Maryland officials have said there was no structural issues and that the bridge was fully up to code.
"Part of the problem was this was a massive tanker ship. It was not only carrying a very heavy load, but it was also not just wide, it was tall as well. So it was almost the height of the bridge," said Dr. Ron Harichandran, dean of the Tagliatela College of Engineering at University of New Haven.
Harichandran, a civil engineer, told Fox News Digital the cargo ship destroyed one of the concrete piers that supported the bridge, sealing its fate.
"If it had not directly hit that and if it had hit between the piers, the bridge may not have completely collapsed because bridges are designed to have some redundancy. But if you hit one of its main support structures, then it's very difficult for it to survive," he explained.
Modern designs have a sort of "bumper system" around the pier intended to absorb a potential impact, according to Harichandran.
"But again, you know, those can withstand limited amounts of impact, but it's something so massive in terms of cargo vessel. Nothing could be designed to withstand something as large as that."

 

[belljr]

I've fished via boat around that bridge a lot. My parents have a place across the bay from there. Bridge pilings are always hot-spots for fish, so we've gotten up quite close. I've always looked at that bridge and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge a little south and wondered how sound those pilings are.

In reading some local Patapsco River fishing groups, it seems like this was just a worst-case scenario. I don't think anyone expected a collapse like that, but you have to look at how much span is covered by each of those pilings and just figure if one goes, you're gonna lose a lot of the bridge. The Chesapeake Bay bridge probably isn't as exposed, but it's still not impervious.

I think the CBB is shorter pilings and is not a suspension bridge. Plus I think the channel is only deep enough over the tunnels....... Obvioulsy hope we never actually find out

The CBB is only ~30-40' off the water for a lot of the span. One section has finger pilings that sort of jut into the water at angles, and the older span has concrete pilings. If those got hit, #1, it couldn't be by a big boat as it's only 15' or so deep for a lot of that area, and #2, if it did collapse, it'd only be a few hundred yards of deck tops. The span that runs over the main shipping channel has a few pilings that are super solid, like solid concrete structures and look like an obelisk. Then there are a few that come out of rock piles that I have to imagine are protected pretty well...but there are still a few that are the concrete "H" style that look like they'd be prone to damage and in deep enough water.

The CBB pilings are actually really interesting because they use so many different types. Obviously there's an old span and a new span, but even within spans, there are different styles used.

Yeah I could fathom driving over that bridge when it was only a 2 laner. In the fog.... teh suck lol

 

[Brunell4MVP]

Damn how fast that bridge came down. It's was like it was built with TinkerToys from my youth. https://www.amazon.com/KNEX-TINKERTOY-Retro-Building-Collectible/dp/B06XKJPQVR

I'm not sure this will effect Baltimore that much. The tunnels and west beltway will get used more but it's not terrible.

Traffic is an interesting and awful thing in the NoVA to Baltimore corridor. The work on the American Legion Bridge has made the beltway from VA into MD a mess. Luckily I just see it every day but never have to get into it. Total ****show. Yet they are doing work on the GW Parkway and it's essentially single lane into Arlington/DC. They have cones to separate the two lanes into town. Because people can't switch lanes it's significantly faster now. Go figure. I'm not sure any of these traffic/road engineers has a fresh thought in their head. They are programmed to do what has been done over and over. Going back to basics of one lane is working in a ton of spots around here, but it's being done by accident since construction crews with cones are setting it up that way. Where the lanes allow switching all over during merging .. total mess and plenty of aholes willing to drive the shoulder at 110 mph to cut people off.

 

[culdeus]

Damn how fast that bridge came down. It's was like it was built with TinkerToys from my youth. https://www.amazon.com/KNEX-TINKERTOY-Retro-Building-Collectible/dp/B06XKJPQVR

I'm not sure this will effect Baltimore that much. The tunnels and west beltway will get used more but it's not terrible.

Traffic is an interesting and awful thing in the NoVA to Baltimore corridor. The work on the American Legion Bridge has made the beltway from VA into MD a mess. Luckily I just see it every day but never have to get into it. Total ****show. Yet they are doing work on the GW Parkway and it's essentially single lane into Arlington/DC. They have cones to separate the two lanes into town. Because people can't switch lanes it's significantly faster now. Go figure. I'm not sure any of these traffic/road engineers has a fresh thought in their head. They are programmed to do what has been done over and over. Going back to basics of one lane is working in a ton of spots around here, but it's being done by accident since construction crews with cones and setting it up that way. Where the lanes allow switching all over during merging .. total mess and plenty of aholes willing to drive the shoulder at 110 mph to cut people off.

People can't handle zipper merging here either.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Civil engineer explains why Baltimore bridge so easily collapsed​

The Francis Scott Key Bridge's collapse was all but inevitable once a cargo ship rammed into one of the bridge's main supports, according to one expert.
Shocking video shows the moment the bridge appears to snap and fall apart into the Patapsco River. Maryland officials have said there was no structural issues and that the bridge was fully up to code.
"Part of the problem was this was a massive tanker ship. It was not only carrying a very heavy load, but it was also not just wide, it was tall as well. So it was almost the height of the bridge," said Dr. Ron Harichandran, dean of the Tagliatela College of Engineering at University of New Haven.
Harichandran, a civil engineer, told Fox News Digital the cargo ship destroyed one of the concrete piers that supported the bridge, sealing its fate.
"If it had not directly hit that and if it had hit between the piers, the bridge may not have completely collapsed because bridges are designed to have some redundancy. But if you hit one of its main support structures, then it's very difficult for it to survive," he explained.
Modern designs have a sort of "bumper system" around the pier intended to absorb a potential impact, according to Harichandran.
"But again, you know, those can withstand limited amounts of impact, but it's something so massive in terms of cargo vessel. Nothing could be designed to withstand something as large as that."

It's early and we should reserve judgement, but I'm seeing a lot of this too. People who know what they're talking about seem to be of the view that this isn't an engineering or maintenance issue and that nothing would have survived that sort of direct hit from a fully-loaded ship. In other words, we know there are some bridges out there that may be unsafe due to deferred maintenance, but this doesn't seem to be one of those.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Regular traffic can use the tunnels. Haz-may haulers will have to go around the west side of I-695 if they are running I-95 - that is a hump. I would also think that truckers coming from the deeper North or South may run I-81

That's what I was wondering, if they had to go around the city

Yep. It's a good bit of distance for that detour to get off of I-95 SW of Baltimore, go northwest on I-695 to pick it up again NE of town and the "regular" traffic is heavier on that side on a good day than it was on the Key Bridge side.

I can't haul some of my equipment through the tunnels on 95 and 895 because they are wide/high loads. So, it's not just haz-mat.

Ironically, a big part of my company's business is installing bridge foundations. My guess is that engineering on bridge replacement has already started. I expect that a new bridge will be started alongside of the collapsed bridge fairly soon.

 

[CGRdrJoe]

Looks like a number of big brain gigachads are driving or running towards the ruined bridge to do their own research.

And everybody's suddenly an expert civil engineer.

"The bridge collapsed too fast. It must've had other structural issues"

"They shouldn't build bridges like that. They could collapse at any time"

I would seriously caution folks to not jump to conclusions.
The last thing on my mind is this was done on purpose by either an individual or group

-Maybe the captain fell asleep at 1:30 in the morning, we don't really know and it's going to take weeks before investigators can gather all the information and form a conclusion
I made that up but it's more plausible than some of the conspiracies that will likely circulate

it's throwing out wild things like this that allows conspiracy talk to steam roll and pick up a life of their own

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Civil engineer explains why Baltimore bridge so easily collapsed​

The Francis Scott Key Bridge's collapse was all but inevitable once a cargo ship rammed into one of the bridge's main supports, according to one expert.
Shocking video shows the moment the bridge appears to snap and fall apart into the Patapsco River. Maryland officials have said there was no structural issues and that the bridge was fully up to code.
"Part of the problem was this was a massive tanker ship. It was not only carrying a very heavy load, but it was also not just wide, it was tall as well. So it was almost the height of the bridge," said Dr. Ron Harichandran, dean of the Tagliatela College of Engineering at University of New Haven.
Harichandran, a civil engineer, told Fox News Digital the cargo ship destroyed one of the concrete piers that supported the bridge, sealing its fate.
"If it had not directly hit that and if it had hit between the piers, the bridge may not have completely collapsed because bridges are designed to have some redundancy. But if you hit one of its main support structures, then it's very difficult for it to survive," he explained.
Modern designs have a sort of "bumper system" around the pier intended to absorb a potential impact, according to Harichandran.
"But again, you know, those can withstand limited amounts of impact, but it's something so massive in terms of cargo vessel. Nothing could be designed to withstand something as large as that."

It's early and we should reserve judgement, but I'm seeing a lot of this too. People who know what they're talking about seem to be of the view that this isn't an engineering or maintenance issue and that nothing would have survived that sort of direct hit from a fully-loaded ship. In other words, we know there are some bridges out there that may be unsafe due to deferred maintenance, but this doesn't seem to be one of those.

Even the 35W bridge collapse ended up not being a maintenance issue - it was due to a design flaw.

 

[Chemical X]

Looks like a number of big brain gigachads are driving or running towards the ruined bridge to do their own research.

And everybody's suddenly an expert civil engineer.

"The bridge collapsed too fast. It must've had other structural issues"

"They shouldn't build bridges like that. They could collapse at any time"

I would seriously caution folks to not jump to conclusions.
The last thing on my mind is this was done on purpose by either an individual or group

-Maybe the captain fell asleep at 1:30 in the morning, we don't really know and it's going to take weeks before investigators can gather all the information and form a conclusion
I made that up but it's more plausible than some of the conspiracies that will likely circulate

it's throwing out wild things like this that allows conspiracy talk to steam roll and pick up a life of their own

this is america, let's wildly speculate without facts and jump to conclusions.

 

[BlackCrowes]

Okay physics guys - if we want to calculate the force the thing hit with is it mass (which would be gigantic) times deceleration?

Think it would be kinetic energy at the time of impact divided by the distance traveled after impact

 

[belljr]

Okay physics guys - if we want to calculate the force the thing hit with is it mass (which would be gigantic) times deceleration?

According to my engineering student daughter deceleration is NOT A WORD!@;#;#