Francis Scott Key bridge collapse

[Samm]

@Gaius

Foot of the Francis Scott Key Bridge

That pier is not at the shipping channel. The main piers are (were) somewhat (but obviously not well enough) protected by a structural belt and bollards.

[Samm]

@conan

@Safiel

Which makes the lack of concrete islands around the supports a rather blatant omission of duty on the designers.

Yeah…I’m guessing that is where weakest point of bridge.

I was just surprised how fast it collapsed.

In my work I did enough demoing, it always seem slow motion when you drop a piece/part of structural.

This just dropped immediately.

That’s gravity for you. Instantaneous acceleration.

Too many of us were brainwashed as kids to think there is a pause before something falls from watching Roadrunner cartoons.

[ohknow35]

@bigtwnvin

I lived in Eastern Baltimore County for 35 years and traveled the FSK Bridge for 34 years to and from work and sometimes in between to the old Bethlehem Steel Works at Sparrows Point. The loss of that bridge, impact on the Harbor and the Dundalk Marine Terminal will be catastrophic.
My God what an unimaginable travesty.

I was looking at Google Maps, and it looks like the only dockable area for now is at The Home Depot distribution center.

I doubt they could handle much overflow.

[Samm]

@Safiel

@Publius

@Safiel

@Camp

Interesting report. Lives were spared by quick action.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/03/26/gov-heroes-stopped-traffic-driving-onto-baltimore-bridge-at-last-minute/

I would also give kudos to the crew of the ship for hastily sending a distress signal that timely alerted authorities to shut down the bridge.

Not so much for apparently failing to immediately drop the hook when power was lost in such a restricted waterway.

The did drop anchors, but it takes time for the flukes to dig in and stopping a ship of that immense size would take time even with the flukes fully dug in.

Yep. The ship was moving at 8 knots … 810 feet per minute. They only had 4.33 minutes and 3500 ft in which to respond.

Route of ship:

[Samm]

@Safiel

@Publius

I know that - I was a ship driver once - just hadn’t seen anywhere that they did it.

Should be interesting driving up though Baltimore to Philly for Easter.

The I-95 tunnels are likely to be a nightmare.

And even expedited, probably a year to rebuild the bridge.

Took five years to build the original structure, but as the approaches appear to be intact, they only need to rebuild the center span. Still it will be quite time consuming.

Presumably, they will be able to reuse the two pier foundations as well.

[Tguns]

@Safiel

The I-95 tunnels are likely to be a nightmare.

And even expedited, probably a year to rebuild the bridge.

Took five years to build the original structure, but as the approaches appear to be intact, they only need to rebuild the center span. Still it will be quite time consuming.

I’d wager it would take a lot longer than a year. It’s gonna take quite some time to clear that mess.

[Samm]

A month to put together and award destruct/salvage contracts. (Assuming they get emergency funding.)
Two to three months the clear the shipping channel and around the piers.
Six to eight months to review and update the structural design. (This can commence as soon as funding is secured.)
Two years to reconstruct the bridge (assuming they can get the materials.)

Reopening before March 2027.

Bookmark anyone?

[Gaius]

I am absolutely not an expert, but I have to think that proper water-level barriers would have prevented this.

[Tguns]

A month to award the contracts?

You’re an optimist, aint you.

[Samm]

@Tguns

A month to award the contracts?

You’re an optimist, aint you.

I have reason to be. I have been there and done that. Award of contracts in emergencies can be accomplished amazingly fast as long as everyone cooperates. I did a Federal Hwy funded emergency bridge repair project (which involved complete replacement of a pier) on the Dalton Highway from the initiation of the design to bid opening for the construction in twenty days. The Contractor was on the job site working 30 days after my boss had called me into his office and assigned me the task.

The thirty days to contract is simply for removing the downed structure, not to rebuild the bridge. That is far simpler than my project.

[bigtwnvin]

No container freight cranes.

[rp5x5]

Gave proof through the night that our bridge was not there.

[Tguns]

@Samm

I have reason to be. I have been there and done that. Award of contracts in emergencies can be accomplished amazingly fast as long as everyone cooperates. I did a Federal Hwy funded emergency bridge repair project (which involved complete replacement of a pier) on the Dalton Highway from the initiation of the design to bid opening for the construction in twenty days. The Contractor was on the job site working 30 days after my boss had called me into his office and assigned me the task.

The thirty days to contract is simply for removing the downed structure, not to rebuild the bridge. That is far simpler than my project.

In this case, you not talking simply about downed structure. You’re talking about a ship with downed structure on top of it in a navagible water way. For the ship alone there are (at least) two federal agencies that want accountability alone.

I think you’re optimistic.

[Samm]

The ship is the least of their problems. Cut the steel that hangs on it loose from the rest, and they can simply float it away. The steel in the water will have to be cut into manageable sized pieces (much of that cutting done by divers) and lifted out one piece at a time. But once the shipping lane span is cleared out, the port can reopen while they clear the debris from the other two spans. Just watch, once that contract is let, they’ll have that port open in two months, three at most.

[Tguns]

@Samm

The ship is the least of their problems. Cut the steel that hangs on it loose from the rest, and they can simply float it away. The steel in the water will have to be cut into manageable sized pieces (much of that cutting done by divers) and lifted out one piece at a time. But once the shipping lane span is cleared out, the port can reopen while they clear the debris from the other two spans. Just watch, once that contract is let, they’ll have that port open in two months, three at most.

The ship is not the least of the problem. The ship IS the problem. It’s a 100K plus tons of steel sitting in the middle of a navigable water way with a few hundred tons of unstable busted bridge sitting on it’s bow.

[Samm]

It’s afloat. If it were sunk it would be a problem.

[Tguns]

Yes it’s afloat, it would be better if it were sunk.

Take a look at the pictures, that orangish color on the hull should be parallel with the waterline. It’s not, because there is too much weight on the bow creating trim forward. You start cutting that weight off without some form of compensation the bow will pop up like a cork and screw a lot of people’s day up.

You’re thinking in terms of static loads, this aint. Depending on the tide, there is a highly variable amount of stress involved.

[Samm]

No problem. Don’t take the weight off all at once. In fact, that would be very hard to do. It’ll be easier to take it off in small manageable pieces. And they can unload containers as needed too. Any way you look at it, it’s far better that the ship is afloat and that it and its cargo are not lying on the bottom in the channel.

[ohknow35]

Not to veer too far into the deep on theories/conspiracies…it’s not what I’m saying.

But you have to consider the timing of what happened. A little earlier and they might have been able to stop, or course correct. A little later and they would have been clear. And whatever that turn was, it took them head-on into the support.

That’s gotta be a big part of the investigation.

[SpadeMarlowe]

@Nemesis

Surprised it took so long for this thread to appear.

The video was horrific because people were crossing when it collapsed. Absolutely awful.

I heard somewhere the ship sent the warning right away and saved a lot of cars from crossing.
Death toll would be higher but the ship acted insantly to send out warning.