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Baltimore's Key Bridge struck by cargo ship, collapses

wbaltv.com

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Re: Baltimore's Key Bridge struck by cargo ship, collapses

#221
post #197
post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bridges only last for roughly 50 years. Considering such collisions are rare enough to make the news as a memorable event you can workout for yourself that the odds are quite low over a bridges lifespan. They are designed to withstand smaller boat impacts because they occur relatively frequently, but cost vs benefit on rare events that are difficult to mitigate is quite different.

Do you mean 50 years without maintenance? I would be shocked if major bridges weren't designed to last indefinitely.

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Re: Baltimore's Key Bridge struck by cargo ship, collapses

#222
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Already roughly 75 edits since the collapse.

It makes me wonder what goes through someone's head when one sees a mass casualty event like this, and your first instinct is to rush to Wikipedia to change the article to past tense ('was' a bridge).

Some people are clinical -just an item to update. For others it’s the old “first post” mentality. It’s basically personal mores whether something is too recent and tragic to update.

Re: Baltimore's Key Bridge struck by cargo ship, collapses

#223
post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean 50 years without maintenance? I would be shocked if major bridges weren't designed to last indefinitely.

I can think of at least 5 famous bridges that are way older than 50 years...

Sure, and there's 100's of thousands of replaced bridges that don't immediately spring to mind.

Though to be clear designed to last 50 years isn't the same as saying it will only last exactly 50 years, or that theirs nothing you can do to extend a bridges lifespan if it's replacement is running a little late.

Re: Baltimore's Key Bridge struck by cargo ship, collapses

#224

Also important to note. The logistic company running this ship was Maersk. That is the same shipping company that had the ever given stuck in the suez canal a few years ago. Is Maersk now officially the "Boeing" of shipping?

They are in terms of "most large planes are Boeing so you'll hear about their accidents most often", no idea if also in terms of "terrible safety culture so there'll be an unacceptable rate of accidents".

Re: Baltimore's Key Bridge struck by cargo ship, collapses

#226
post #197
post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bridges only last for roughly 50 years. Considering such collisions are rare enough to make the news as a memorable event you can workout for yourself that the odds are quite low over a bridges lifespan. They are designed to withstand smaller boat impacts because they occur relatively frequently, but cost vs benefit on rare events that are difficult to mitigate is quite different.

Do you mean 50 years without maintenance? I would be shocked if major bridges weren't designed to last indefinitely.

Depends on the bridge. Steel and concrete bridges can last for at least 100 years. But it depends on the environment, its expected use, the construction, design. Some famous major bridges failed early due to poor design or poor construction, but many still fail due to lack of maintenance.

The average age of a bridge in the USA is 43 years. But we also have an epidemic of unmaintained bridges.

No bridge made today is designed to last indefinitely. Many different forces will degrade the bridge over time, even with maintenance. Steel stresses weaken it over time. Concrete weathers over time due to salt, chemicals, water, wind, and the steel reinforcements tend to corrode eventually.

Stone bridges may last for an exceptionally long time, but their weight and expense makes them only useful in limited applications, typically as small rail overpasses. Ones that were designed for horse and buggy end up slowly failing as heavier trucks and cars in traffic weaken them.

The same fate lies for timber bridges. When well maintained they can last for 75 years, but it's expensive and requires certain skills. They were also mostly designed before heavier cars and trucks, and for less traffic. Most famous covered bridges today are being closed to traffic due to increased wear.

Re: Baltimore's Key Bridge struck by cargo ship, collapses

#227
post #157
post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not unlikely? Can you point us to all the other times this has happened? You must know of several given your knowledge of how obviously likely this is.

It's not especially common, but the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa Bay is a famous example. Similar circumstances - it collapsed after being hit by a ship.

The replacement bridge in Tampa famously added "dolphins" which are bumpers in the water to protect the bridge pylons.

Re: Baltimore's Key Bridge struck by cargo ship, collapses

#228
post #165
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the Port of Baltimore is a very major port, and not allowing ships under it really isn't an option. Vertical clearance for ship traffic might have been the reason this kind of bridge was built in the first place. Otherwise, something lower and more causeway-like might have been sufficient.

If it's a very major port, they can afford to make it a tunnel.

Tunnels are far more expensive - the 1.5 mile 4 lane Fort McHenry tunnel was like $750M vs. $140M for the 1.6 mile 4 lane Key bridge, although adjusted for inflation that’s probably more like $750M vs $320M.

The underlying problem here is that automobiles are inherently inefficient so you either get epic traffic jams or have to massively overbuild capacity, forcing the engineers to deliver as many lanes as they can for the budget.

Re: Baltimore's Key Bridge struck by cargo ship, collapses

#229
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What impressed me was that it looks like openstreetmap shows the bridge as down already. https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/39.2144/-76.5279

OpenStreetMap editors are just as passionate as Wikipedia editors. :)

Nicer community and less bikeshedding.

Re: Baltimore's Key Bridge struck by cargo ship, collapses

#230
post #208
post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bridges only last for roughly 50 years. Considering such collisions are rare enough to make the news as a memorable event you can workout for yourself that the odds are quite low over a bridges lifespan. They are designed to withstand smaller boat impacts because they occur relatively frequently, but cost vs benefit on rare events that are difficult to mitigate is quite different.

Interested in this claim, because it sounds about right, except that I can’t name a bridge constructed in the past 50 years. The bridges we can all name are pushing 100+ right?

New York City has had two major recent new bridge replacements that probably about 20M people can name: the Mario Cuomo (formerly Tappan Zee) and the Kosciuszko bridge.

I’d argue the Bayonne Bridge raising kinda counts since it was almost a rebuild and more impressive in many ways since it stayed open the whole time.

Meanwhile in the San Francisco Bay Area they replaced the Bay Bridge…

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