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.
Baltimore's Key Bridge struck by cargo ship, collapses
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Re: Baltimore's Key Bridge struck by cargo ship, collapses
#222Earlier 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).
Re: Baltimore's Key Bridge struck by cargo ship, collapses
#223Earlier 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...
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
#224Also 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?
Re: Baltimore's Key Bridge struck by cargo ship, collapses
#225[flagged]
Re: Baltimore's Key Bridge struck by cargo ship, collapses
#226Earlier 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.
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
#227Earlier 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.
Re: Baltimore's Key Bridge struck by cargo ship, collapses
#228Earlier 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.
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
#229Earlier 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. :)
Re: Baltimore's Key Bridge struck by cargo ship, collapses
#230Earlier 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?
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…