Francis Scott Key Bridge South of Baltimore Collapses

This was not a serious conversation ongoing here lol, let's not go there for the millionth time.

 

This certainly ranks as one of the "biggies", for sure. Not you, but for the threads sake, I wouldn't get nationalities involved, we're hopefully WAY past that. Our ancestors were no different. Foreign workers have filled the gap, and I say, good for them. Our fathers filled potholes at 1am, but today, that field is wide open for unskilled labor from anywhere. In my community, there's a LOT of residential building going on. In the summer, "LaCucaracha" wails in the distance, and I don't think any of the workers speak English. They are doing the jobs we don't want to. Sound familiar? ( truck drivers) It, in part, has made this more of a global society, like it or not.
What I would like to say, not as an epilogue, but general thoughts on these container ships. As massive and unbelieveable it is to think, those containers all have some sort of freight. The enormity of it, only goes to show, to what magnitude America has lost its way. These were all products made in Pittsburg, or Cincinnatti, or my hometown, Milwaukee. When I was a kid, we( as a country) made our own products and bought our own products. Everything was fine, or so it seemed to a 10 year old kid. I grew up in Milwaukee and Wisconsin was the PINNACLE of manufacturing. Foreign products were these inferior hand tools and tin toys that Spartan-Atlantic Mills sold.Today, a mere shred, thanks in part to foreign products, all coming over on these behemoths, with more being built, I'm sure. To be clear, one ship can hold 20,000, 20 footers, with bigger containers, that number is more like 8-9,000. Still incredible.
Naturally, regardless of what you may think of foreigners coming in, we've all been over many, many bridges, and quite frankly, on everyone, I held my breath until I got over them. Remember when Milwaukees Hoan bridge began crumbling?( Dec. 13, 2000) I was one of the last to go over it with a semi, 44,000 pounds. Found out after I got to the terminal. This had to be surreal for the workers, seeing the ship coming at them, passing under them harmlessly many times, and this time not turning. Just doing their job,,,pretty harsh,

 

Agreed, and this time put "rubber baby buggy bumpers" around the pylons.
And, this time, maybe a tug escort to center channel, just past the bridge???

 

Baltimore bridge collapse:
Largest crane on eastern seaboard
to be used to move 95,000 ton ship Dali.

screw the ship, move the bridge

 

They have to move the bridge pieces off the bow before they can move the ship, then once the ship is moved they can start clearing the channel. The Army Corps of Engineers are on site to determine where to make the cuts so the 1000 ton crane can start removing pieces once the cuts are made.

 

Seeing more graphic photos today, really shows what a mess this is. Some of the damaged containers are leaking hazardous materials, and someone had the audacity to cite the bridge had "structural problems",,,yeah, not meant for a cargo ship collision. ALL our bridges are shot, sadly, this is what it takes to replace them. I think it was Bean that said, imagine if this happened during rush hour?

 

I read, the water below the bridge is almost 50 feet deep. A cargo ship cannot draw more than 44 feet in a port. Technically, it had no place to run aground. This is going to take a while to sort out. It could potentially cripple Baltimores economy. Who ever thought a mere bridge could be so important?

 

Yeah; a boat shaped concrete "bumper island" around the base would have
at least deflected the impact. Never saw a bridge built without one
where there is heavy ship traffic; the ship just crashed right into the upright pylon.
If they dredge the channel, It would have made sense to dump some of that crap in front
of the bridge to do just that, make the ship run aground - so as to lessen the momentum.