Francis Keys bridge hit by ship. Bridge collapses, mass casualty event.

[AyeCantSeeYou]

Maybe if the bridge had been built to modern standards it would still be standing ?
The lesson is that all similar structures need to be upgraded.

Bridge was up to code. At the time it was designed and built, there weren't any ships being built or even thought of that were anywhere near the size of the ones being used today.

 

[rightwinger]

It was in the channel in the correct lane when it lost all power - total blackout. That means no steering, no rudder, no thrust propulsion, etc. There was NOTHING the crew could do to steer the ship. The emergency generator came on, but the engines did not recover; they were dead! They dropped the anchor as instructed and that caused the ship to drift into the path of the bridge support at an angle. Again, there was NOTHING they could do.

Ships losing power has probably happened many times in the past. Typically, the crew is able to go to backup generators, restart the engines and get back under power.

But this failure happened at the worst possible moment and the crew had no way to recover.

 

[AyeCantSeeYou]

In most cases there is supposed to be a harbor pilot on board that's actually in command of the vessel until the ship clears the harbor too. It will be interesting to find out if this was the case or not, and if not, why not.

A harbor pilot from the Port of Baltimore was on board and in command of the ship.

 

[Delldude]

What could the crew use to fight the current in the river after they had a total blackout? The ship's engines are dead. There's no steering, no rudder control, etc. Dead!

Ships weight and speed would be the biggest challenge to over come.

 

[Delldude]

A harbor pilot from the Port of Baltimore was on board and in command of the ship.

They usually observe and advise.

 

[rightwinger]

Bridge was up to code. At the time it was designed and built, there weren't any ships being built or even thought of that were anywhere near the size of the ones being used today.

I have taken cruises out of Baltimore many times.
What they have told us is that the Port of Baltimore can’t handle the large cruise ships that are common in the industry because of the clearance limitations of the Key Bridge

 

[AyeCantSeeYou]

Ships losing power has probably happened many times in the past. Typically, the crew is able to go to backup generators, restart the engines and get back under power.

But this failure happened at the worst possible moment and the crew had no way to recover.

Exactly! The engines are dead. Something catastrophic happened to them. They were being checked yesterday and would not fire back up. There's info locally about what was found, but I'm not repeating it until NTSB confirms. All I'll say is that there was absolutely nothing the crew could have done.

 

[AyeCantSeeYou]

If Trump's assholes were really christians, they might act differently.

What does that have to do with the topic of this thread?

 

[odanny]

I've been watching a shorter bridge being built from scratch for the past 2.5 years, supposed to be done in 6 months, it is a nice bridge, even has a 12 foot wide pedestrian and bicycle lane, but something like the Key Bridge will take 4 years to build from scratch, that means all new pilings and supports and it will certainly be wider than this one was, could be more than 4 years because the roadway needs to be upgraded at both ends..

 

[Tommy Tainant]

Bridge was up to code. At the time it was designed and built, there weren't any ships being built or even thought of that were anywhere near the size of the ones being used today.

The code is out of date.

 

[AyeCantSeeYou]

I have taken cruises out of Baltimore many times.
What they have told us is that the Port of Baltimore can’t handle the large cruise ships that are common in the industry because of the clearance limitations of the Key Bridge

I've crossed the bridge several times when one of the cruise ships was passing under. You can just about jump from the bridge to the top deck because of how close they are to the bridge.

 

[odanny]

FBI Director Chris Wray said that China was planning ways to disrupt our infrastructure.

That tells me that the CIA is involved.

You never met a conspiracy theory you didn't believe.

 

[DudleySmith]

You don't redesign entire cities over something that has a one in a trillion chance of happening.

No need to redesign an entire city, nobody said that. All that's needed is to design a new more efficient port.

How many ships since 1977 have passed through the bridge safely?

How many container ships had to hit a major interstate highway bridge to shut it down for a long time?

 

[martybegan]

No need to redesign an entire city, nobody said that. All that's needed is to design a new more efficient port.


How many container ships had to hit a major interstate highway bridge to shut it down for a long time?

Ports are built where the conditions are right. Trying to "make" one is a last resort when you don't have another option.

When was the last time this happened?

The bridge has been there for over 50 years with probably hundreds of thousands of large ship transits.

 

[rightwinger]

I've been watching a shorter bridge being built from scratch for the past 2.5 years, supposed to be done in 6 months, it is a nice bridge, even has a 12 foot wide pedestrian and bicycle lane, but something like the Key Bridge will take 4 years to build from scratch, that means all new pilings and supports and it will certainly be wider than this one was, could be more than 4 years because the roadway needs to be upgraded at both ends..

I agree
They can’t just throw out a replacement as soon as possible.
The bridge needs to be modernized to meet current standards and safely handle the bigger ships that need to enter the harbor.
It will take time

 

[DudleySmith]

They didn't "turn" into the bridge support. The ship lost all power - total blackout - no steering, no rudder, no anything! They were at God's mercy! When you see the lights come back on at the last second, that is the emergency generator that runs emergency lights. The engines never came back on line. The ship drifted out of the channel when the the anchor was dropped (which is protocol in this situation). The person piloting the ship at the time was from the Baltimore port (required for all ships of foreign registration coming into or out of the port). This was a tragedy that no human had any control over. There is no conspiracy, no political involvement, no anything - just a freak accident caused from mechanical failure that no one could have controlled. The harbor pilot has over a decade of experience and reacted immediately when the blackout happened. The crew did everything he told them. Any person that thinks they could have done a better job is just talking bullshit. They sent out a MAYDAY call immediately, telling the port that they were going to hit the bridge and they needed to stop all traffic across it immediately. There's info shared locally that many of you haven't heard or seen, probably for the best, since people will try to twist words, take things out of context, and continue to spread rumors and conspiracies instead of the truth.

You're obviously covering up for the evil deeds of reptilian shapeshifters from outer space.

 

[AyeCantSeeYou]

I've been watching a shorter bridge being built from scratch for the past 2.5 years, supposed to be done in 6 months, it is a nice bridge, even has a 12 foot wide pedestrian and bicycle lane, but something like the Key Bridge will take 4 years to build from scratch, that means all new pilings and supports and it will certainly be wider than this one was, could be more than 4 years.

The Key bridge took 5 years to build. It's 4 lanes (2 on both sides) and bounces like a trampoline when you're near the center top.

All the locals, me included, can't even think about a new one yet. All we want right now is for the bodies of the construction crew and anyone else in a vehicle when it was hit to be recovered.

 

[odanny]

I agree
They can’t just throw out a replacement as soon as possible.
The bridge needs to be modernized to meet current standards and safely handle the bigger ships that need to enter the harbor.
It will take time

It certainly will, but this bridge will be given the highest priority and with all the government money and insurance money they will have loads of engineers working on it around the clock. I can't imagine it would be completed in less than 3.5 years, even with priority.

 

[RoshawnMarkwees]

I've crossed the bridge several times when one of the cruise ships was passing under. You can just about jump from the bridge to the top deck because of how close they are to the bridge.

It always seemed pretty high to me. Same height as the bay bridge and that’s pretty high at the middle.

 

[martybegan]

It always seemed pretty high to me. Same height as the bay bridge and that’s pretty high at the middle.

it's high because it had to be, and unless they go with a tunnel, the replacement will be even higher probably.