Baltimore's Key Bridge Collapses After Being Struck

Mike said:
Don't they have "Pilots", who are in charge of ships,
arriving and leaving port?

If so he/she, wasn't paying attention, or not on the
bridge at the time of the impact.

Very, very sad.

Mike.
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Yes. The ship collided due to a power failure? IDK. I've never seen such damage to an ENTIRE bridge from a single pylon strike in my life. My thoughts are with anyone who is surviving this.

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chic said:
Yes. The ship collided due to a power failure? IDK. I've never seen such damage to an ENTIRE bridge from a single pylon strike in my life.
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The vessel lost propulsion when it left port and notified Maryland officials they had lost control. Which kind of begs the question someone asked here earlier about why the bridge hadn't been cleared of traffic and construction crew. 🤷‍♀️
 

What a tragedy. I've been over that bridge hundreds of times driving an 18 wheeler. From what I'm hearing on the local news here, that ship left Norfolk, Va and was heading for its next port, Baltimore, Md. The ship gave out a Mayday over the radio reporting they lost power. The news is reporting they closed both ends of traffic when the Mayday was sent by the ship, but there was a few vehicles already crossing the bridge. That bridge is really high. It's one of the bridges I didn't like going over.
 
ProTruckDriver said:
What a tragedy. I've been over that bridge hundreds of times driving an 18 wheeler. From what I'm hearing on the local news here, that ship left Norfolk, Va and was heading for its next port, Baltimore, Md. The ship gave out a Mayday over the radio reporting they lost power. The news is reporting they closed both ends of traffic when the Mayday was sent by the ship, but there was a few vehicles already crossing the bridge. That bridge is really high. It's one of the bridges I didn't like going over.
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Oh, that's very good to know that they did stop traffic! Maybe that also gave most of the construction workers time to evacuate. I've never liked high bridges and now this will cement that in me even more. I've also traveled the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel Bridge... there is no way I could ever do that again... the *water* on top of you... no, just no. :oops:
 
CallMeKate said:
I would have never imagined that so much of it would go down even after a direct hit like that. I'd think a section of it... but that was surreal. The bridge is from the 1970s. I sure hope there are other bridges close to there... it's not the type of thing that can be repaired quickly!
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That's nuts, right, how vulnerable that bridge was. Makes you think it was ready to collapse at any time.
 
CallMeKate said:
I've also traveled the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel Bridge... there is no way I could ever do that again... the *water* on top of you... no, just no. :oops:
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I traveled that twice a day, five days a week for 4 years in a semi. Loaded Chrysler wheels in Suffolk Va and took them to the Chrysler Plant in Newark Delaware. I had a few close calls on that bridge / tunnel driving a semi.
 
ProTruckDriver said:
I traveled that twice a day, five days a week for 4 years in a semi. Loaded Chrysler wheels in Suffolk Va and took them to the Chrysler Plant in Newark Delaware. I had a few close calls on that bridge / tunnel driving a semi.
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I'll bet! The times I did it, I was able to [somehow, no idea how] block the fact from my mind that the Chesapeake was on top of me.... and I didn't let myself think of collapse or ships up there, or leaks, etc. But NOW I'm afraid it's *all* I would think about.
 
@ProTruckDriver ... correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that bridge the main route hazardous materials were allowed to be transported through Baltimore? ... Hazardous materials not allowed in tunnels and all.

Baltimore is a huge port, important to a lot of commerce. The port's private and public terminals handled 847,158 autos and light trucks in 2023, the most of any U.S. port. The port also handles farm and construction machinery, sugar, gypsum and coal, according to a Maryland government website. The bridge collapse closes any and all access to the port. Likely for many months before a channel can be cleared. Then likely several years before a new bridge is completed.

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Naturally said:
@ProTruckDriver ... correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that bridge the main route hazardous materials were allowed to be transported through Baltimore? ... Hazardous materials not allowed in tunnels and all.
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I believe it was. Traffic down here in the Virginia Beach area is going to be a nightmare now. The Port of Norfolk is going to be taking most of the cargo that is headed to Baltimore Port. I can't imagine the traffic jams in Baltimore now.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
You're right. That the whole thing collapsed is astonishing. Well, this is a perfect example of why more needs to be allocated for infrastructure purposes. We've got so many key things that need updating, reinforcing and the like. I'm watching Make It Out Alive on Paramount+. I can only watch a little at a time because it is harrowing. How people survived major natural disasters, a different on each episode, is covered. The episode I'm on now is about the 1989 San Francisco quake during which a major two tier, concrete bridge collapsed. Of course there were casualties but also miraculous stories of survival. I pray for a miracle for people who were on that Baltimore bridge.
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I remember that earthquake very well! I was glued to my TV, watching the news then. That's one of the reasons why I never moved to California.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
This bridge is a "critical failure structure" bridge, meaning if you take out one pillar, there is no redundancy, the bridge will fail. Knowing that, and having huge ships sailing near the pillars, and NOT having any deflecting piers to protect the pillars, is just waiting for this to happen. The same thing happened with a Tampa Bay bridge, which now has huge cement barriers to protect the pillars of the new bridge.
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Wow! That's incredible that they allowed this to happen with no redundancies in place for safety.
 
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the astounding mass of the cargo ship: 95,000 TONS. Doing the math, that's 190,000,000 POUNDS by my calculator.

Who in the name of common sense authorizes such a mass transport? Even at the slowest of speeds, that much mass is at the least un-navigable and at the most uncontrollable in a harbor environment.
 
ArnoldC said:
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the astounding mass of the cargo ship: 95,000 TONS. Doing the math, that's 190,000,000 POUNDS by my calculator.

Who in the name of common sense authorizes such a mass transport? Even at the slowest of speeds, that much mass is at the least un-navigable and at the most uncontrollable in a harbor environment.
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I don't understand it either, Arnold. Did you see how that thing was piled up?! How do they keep it all safe? And dry?! It wasn't scheduled to reach Sri Lanka until 22 April! @ArnoldC
 
CallMeKate said:
The vessel lost propulsion when it left port and notified Maryland officials they had lost control. Which kind of begs the question someone asked here earlier about why the bridge hadn't been cleared of traffic and construction crew. 🤷‍♀️
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I think it all happened so fast they didn't have time. I think the priority is to stop new traffic from coming on the bridge under the assumption the existing traffic will drive off it shortly.

Also if one looks there are some videos of the ship lights, everything going on and off right before and hate to say it worthy of further questions. Probably a coincidence since this ship has been cited for same issues in the past but hacking or sabotage should not be completely ruled out. I think they said investigators werent even going to board ship until more debris was cleared.
 
ArnoldC said:
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the astounding mass of the cargo ship: 95,000 TONS. Doing the math, that's 190,000,000 POUNDS by my calculator.

Who in the name of common sense authorizes such a mass transport? Even at the slowest of speeds, that much mass is at the least un-navigable and at the most uncontrollable in a harbor environment.
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It's a lot but probably done more often than not. Some experts don't blame the bridge but the lack of emergency stops. Apparently there are under water stop ship devices that weren't there and are available. But costly They cited one bridge where it cost 19 million dollars to put them around the support columns
 
Was the ship meant to go under the bridge or is that bridge one of those that separate and lift for ships to pass? Was the ship meant to be in the general area?
 
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