Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse

quick update on this as it istill unfolding...

It appears, sadly, that at least one person has perished in the incident according to the following "Independant" news outlet report...

Heartfelt condolences from me to all involved at this point in time. Such a tragedy :(

www.independent.co.uk

Baltimore Key Bridge collapse live: Search continues for missing men

Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River in Baltimore after a cargo ship crashed into it Tuesday morning
www.independent.co.uk www.independent.co.uk
 
Smithdoor said:
I was in 1970's a iron worker it is a dangerous work. In 1970's it is third most dangerous job in America.

The last a heard they loost 6 workers.

Dave
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Workers were repairing potholes, so probably not iron workers doing deck repairs.
 
The entire thing is tragic but it was great to hear that they managed to stop traffic right before the accident happened. It could have been far worse.
Sadly, lives were lost.
We can second guess this all day and night but the investigation is ongoing and, hopefully, improvements will be made and safer bridges will be built because of all of this.
 
Here is an interesting aspect of this that is not getting talked about much in the press. Reports are saying that the ship issues a mayday call and based on that the bridge was shut down for traffic in time to prevent cars and trucks from being involved. When I look at the timeline, there is a few seconds under 5 minutes from when the lights first go out on the ship until the impact. The bridge had to be closed at least 60 seconds before the impact to allow for time to travel from one side of the bridge to the other. So best case is 4 minutes and lightly the Mayday call did not go out the instant that the power was lost. It seems incredible that in that short time that the message that a ship threatened the bridge was delivered to someone with enough authority to act AND then that action was executed in time to make a difference All at 1:30 in the morning local time. In my thinking in order to move this fast, you have to have planned and practiced for this quick reaction. someone with direct access and authority to the "switch" to close the bridge had to be monitoring the emergency channels or in close proximity to someone that was. I have led crisis response teams and 4 minutes goes by in the blink of an eye when things are moving fast. It also looks like the last vehicle to pass by on the bridge, passed the impact site about 44 seconds before the impact and still had one span of the bridge to get across .
Bottom line is that whatever government organization was responsible for bridge safety, they had their Sh*t together with a response plan that did not let bureaucracy get in the way of what was needed to save lives. Of course this plan did not seem to help the construction workers on the bridge.
 
Likely there has been a lot of "anti terrorist" measures put in place.

Not to pick nits but in the video you can see a semi crossing the bridge a minute or so before the bridge was hit. It took about 10 seconds to cross the bridge.
 
Boswell said:
Here is an interesting aspect of this that is not getting talked about much in the press. Reports are saying that the ship issues a mayday call and based on that the bridge was shut down for traffic in time to prevent cars and trucks from being involved. When I look at the timeline, there is a few seconds under 5 minutes from when the lights first go out on the ship until the impact. The bridge had to be closed at least 60 seconds before the impact to allow for time to travel from one side of the bridge to the other. So best case is 4 minutes and lightly the Mayday call did not go out the instant that the power was lost. It seems incredible that in that short time that the message that a ship threatened the bridge was delivered to someone with enough authority to act AND then that action was executed in time to make a difference All at 1:30 in the morning local time. In my thinking in order to move this fast, you have to have planned and practiced for this quick reaction. someone with direct access and authority to the "switch" to close the bridge had to be monitoring the emergency channels or in close proximity to someone that was. I have led crisis response teams and 4 minutes goes by in the blink of an eye when things are moving fast. It also looks like the last vehicle to pass by on the bridge, passed the impact site about 44 seconds before the impact and still had one span of the bridge to get across .
Bottom line is that whatever government organization was responsible for bridge safety, they had their Sh*t together with a response plan that did not let bureaucracy get in the way of what was needed to save lives. Of course this plan did not seem to help the construction workers on the bridge.
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I’ve driven over this bridge probably at least a dozen times, I believe there are traffic control lights set up at either end that can shut down traffic remotely, looking at the satellite images on online maps, you can see structures that could be lights and information signs. My guess is whoever is monitoring the ship traffic has the ability to switch those lights quickly. I agree with you, it does appear they had their $hit together.
 
rwm said:
Not sure I believe them:
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They are concentrating on clearing out the channel so the port can resume operations . The bridge itself will take years to replace . I've already noticed traffic on my main road has picked up quite a bit . Anyone going from 95 to 83 or visa versa goes by the back yard , and the larger truck traffic definately picked up yesterday . They finally announced yesterday at 6 that the 6 missing were presumed dead . They knew this hours beforehand but couldn't announce it . All worked for Brawner (sp) Construction which was notified hours before .
 
mmcmdl said:
They finally announced yesterday at 6 that the 6 missing were presumed dead .
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Not good news. Condolences to all affected families, friends and colleagues.
 
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