[News] Baltimore Key Bridge

[Sid and the Sharknados]

An expert bridge designer has just been on R4 and said that the size of ship wasn't even envisaged when the bridge was opened, the opening was very narrow and there were no protectors around the bases of the supports which are a standard part of bridge design nowadays.

If it is some sort of mechanical failure, there wouldn't be many Bridge supports around the world that would withstand a ship that size/weight hitting them head on

This. 100,000+ tonnes travelling at maybe 15 knots ?

A few things about this as a bridge engineer:
The piers clearly aren't able to take an impact anywhere near what they were subject to (that is, the size of the ship isn't really the issue, a smaller ship could have caused a similar collapse).
The electric lines immediately upstream from the bridge have got protection around them, so this isn't a problem they weren't aware of.
Having looked this up earlier today, the design requirement in Europe is project specific, and is based on the idea that the ship will fail first. So in principle it's not a matter of stopping X-thousand tons dead, so much as making sure the ship fails first and the energy is absorbed in the ship crumpling. It's still an enormous force but it's not as absurdly large as might be imagined.
I'm pretty sure that this isn't something any bridges in the UK are subject to, as the supports are either within the river bank or are in such shallow water that no substantial ship could reach them.

 

[FCB]

 

[FCB]

I wasn't aware until today that ships also have "black boxes".

Voyage data recorder, or VDR, is a data recording system designed for all vessels required to comply with the IMO's International Convention SOLAS Requirements (IMO Res.A.861(20)) in order to collect data from various sensors on board the vessel. It then digitizes, compresses and stores this information in an externally mounted protective storage unit. The protective storage unit is a tamper-proof unit designed to withstand the extreme shock, impact, pressure and heat, which could be associated with a marine incident (fire, explosion, collision, sinking, etc.).

Passenger ships and ships other than passenger ships of 3000 gross tonnage and upwards constructed on or after 1 July 2002 must carry voyage data recorders (VDRs) to assist in accident investigations, under regulations adopted in 2000, which entered into force on 1 July 2002.

Voyage data recorder - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Lot of good informations and explanations in this video.

 

[GT49er]

A few things about this as a bridge engineer:
The piers clearly aren't able to take an impact anywhere near what they were subject to (that is, the size of the ship isn't really the issue, a smaller ship could have caused a similar collapse).
The electric lines immediately upstream from the bridge have got protection around them, so this isn't a problem they weren't aware of.
Having looked this up earlier today, the design requirement in Europe is project specific, and is based on the idea that the ship will fail first. So in principle it's not a matter of stopping X-thousand tons dead, so much as making sure the ship fails first and the energy is absorbed in the ship crumpling. It's still an enormous force but it's not as absurdly large as might be imagined.
I'm pretty sure that this isn't something any bridges in the UK are subject to, as the supports are either within the river bank or are in such shallow water that no substantial ship could reach them.

The bridge over the Severn at Sharpness didn't last long when a barge bumped into it in 1960. And what hit it was a rowing boat compared to the monster container ship involved in Baltimore.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

The bridge over the Severn at Sharpness didn't last long when a barge bumped into it in 1960. And what hit it was a rowing boat compared to the monster container ship involved in Baltimore.

That bridge isn't vulnerable to being hit by ships or boats though, simply because it isn't there anymore.
It was also a much older (by 100years or so) and more flimsy bridge than the one in Baltimore.

 

[GT49er]

That bridge isn't vulnerable to being hit by ships or boats though, simply because it isn't there anymore.

Well, of course any bridge that isn't there any more isn't vulnerable! When it was there it obviously was vulnerable - a much smaller vessel struck it - and wham bam thank you ma'm it was buggered!

 

[Questions]

First thing I thought of when I heard

You think it could have been Omar ?

 

[albionalba]

I think a lot of bridges have had anti-collision pier protection work as happened up here with the Tay road bridge in 2012 https://www.tayroadbridge.co.uk/about/history/past-projects ......and sadly of course this part of the Tay carries a bit of history with the rail bridge failure of the past (though that was a windy day, poor design and dodgy rivets rather than a collision).

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

You think it could have been Omar ?

Most definitely

 

[Worried Man Blues]

If the bridges don't have anti collision piers then pretty obviously they should limit the size/weight of traffic going under them?

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

Well, of course any bridge that isn't there any more isn't vulnerable! When it was there it obviously was vulnerable - a much smaller vessel struck it - and wham bam thank you ma'm it was buggered!

Much smaller bridge than the one in Baltimore, but it does bare out the point that the ship doesn't need to be anywhere near as big as the one involved yesterday to cause damage.
I'm very dubious about the "they didn't have container ships that big when it the bridge was built in the 70s" line that some people put out yesterday, they definitely had ships big enough to have taken out the bridge pier if they crashed straight into it.

 

[TomandJerry]

Six people missing presumed dead apparently

 

[Brovion]

That won't stop the conspiracy theorists and anti-everything people!

Indeed. All it means is the Governor and the ship's crew were part of the conspiracy. This goes far wider and deeper than any of you sheeple can understand. Do your own research.

Sadly, despite the loss of life I'm sure someone, somewhere has posted that above sentence as a serious suggestion.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

Well, of course any bridge that isn't there any more isn't vulnerable! When it was there it obviously was vulnerable - a much smaller vessel struck it - and wham bam thank you ma'm it was buggered!

Just following up on this again since reading some more this morning, there's a closer comparison with the Sunshine Skyway collapse in Florida in 1980. Similar (somwhat smaller) bridge to the one in Baltimore hit by a (much smaller) freighter during a squall. Sadly that bridge was open at the time and 35 people were killed.

There's some startling photos of a car stopped just a couple of feet from the drop on this article:

See historic photos from the Sunshine Skyway bridge disaster

On May 9, 1980, a freighter struck the bridge, killing 35 people in one of the worst disasters in Tampa Bay history.

www.tampabay.com

 

[A1X]

Guys, you’re all ignoring the real issues here

 

[Albion my Albion]

I drove over that bridge a couple of times this summer while visiting my sister in Arlington, Virginia. We decided to go to a Houston Astros vs Baltimore Orioles baseball game and we wanted to go to a park south of Baltimore called North Point State Park. We were at a car dealer in Glen Burnie, then went across that I-695 bridge near a Bethlehem Steel plant at Sparrows Point and into North Point State Park.