https://news.sky.com/story/bridge-collapses-after-being-hit-by-ship-13101974

<quotes>

People and vehicles fall into water as Baltimore bridge collapses after being hit by ship

Upwards of seven people are reported to be in the water of the Patapsco River after the cargo ship Dali hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland, causing it to collapse. The incident has been described by officials as a "developing mass casualty event".

</quotes>

The key questions are -

How many have been killed or injured.

How the ship came to collide with the bridge while having two pilot on board.

Why so much of the 1.6 mile bridge collapsed.

What knock-on consequences that will have, how they will be mitigated, and how long that will take.

Seems they dodged a bullet in the collision and collapse not happening at rush hour or while the bridge was packed with traffic.

So far it's looking like possible engine failure rather than human error. Which begs the question why there are no mitigations in place for when that does happen, tug boats in place which can bring a ship to a halt before a disaster ensues.

The Happy Hippy wrote:
> https://news.sky.com/story/bridge-collapses-after-being-hit-by-ship-13101974
>
> <quotes>
>
> People and vehicles fall into water as Baltimore bridge collapses after being hit by ship
>
> Upwards of seven people are reported to be in the water of the Patapsco River after the cargo ship Dali hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland, causing it to collapse. The incident has been described by officials as a "developing mass casualty event".
>
> </quotes>
>
> The key questions are -
>
> How many have been killed or injured.
>
> How the ship came to collide with the bridge while having two pilot on board.
>
> Why so much of the 1.6 mile bridge collapsed.
>
> What knock-on consequences that will have, how they will be mitigated, and how long that will take.

Have no idea what a knock-on consequence is, I'll explain it simply so
you can understand.

Something very large and heavy, made out of steel & concrete and
elevated high off the ground, has critical support structures that are
there to combat the effects of gravity.
If one or more of those critical support structures fail in any way,
then it will be prone to collapse.

Since the entire structure, by design and necessity, is interconnected,
other portions of the structure, not necessarily directly affected by a
support failure, will be prone to being ripped from place as well.

>
>
> Seems they dodged a bullet in the collision and collapse not happening at rush hour or while the bridge was packed with traffic.
>
> So far it's looking like possible engine failure rather than human error. Which begs the question why there are no mitigations in place for when that does happen, tug boats in place which can bring a ship to a halt before a disaster ensues.

Full time tug boats in place just waiting around year round for a ship
losing an engine and barreling towards the bridge, what a stroke of genius !

Outside of the obvious [being a stupid, impractical idea that no one on
the planet would consider], what exactly is a tug boat going to do to
instantly stop a ship 100 X its size and weight in its tracks ?

--
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for
light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 14:06:36 -0400
JeSSe <zo@so.org> wrote:

> Since the entire structure, by design and necessity, is
> interconnected, other portions of the structure, not necessarily
> directly affected by a support failure, will be prone to being ripped
> from place as well.

Sounds like a design failure to me; were Boeing involved ?

This was an accident but you don't design bridges so a terrorist or an enemy can take the whole lot out with a single bomb.

Other countries manage to design bridges such that when a section collapses the rest remain intact.

Having the whole lot come tumbling down just makes clearing the wreckage harder, the rebuilding harder and lengthier, as well as massively increasing the cost.

Not to mention that it raises the potential casualty numbers; everyone dies rather than just an unlucky few. Imagine how many could have died if this had happened when the bridge was nose to tail with traffic.

Smart countries protect the piers and supports from being crashed into by shipping because they know these are the weakest links. A simple trick is to ensure they are in shallow water by raising the seabed so a heavy vessel grounds itself rather than impacts or they add sturdy deflectors and buttresses.

They did that when they rebuilt Sunshine Skyway Bridge after that collapsed in the 1980's. Weren't the lessons leaned, weren't the safety features added for older bridges ?

Was it a case of thinking it's happened 18 times already so it won't happen again ?

I am sure that when it's rebuilt it will have the safety features it should have had already.

Expert structural engineers say it was an out-dated design, didn't have the protective features of safer and more modern designs. Basically a disater waiting to happen which could have been so much worse.

But what do experts know - We've got Jessie, an expert on everything, and a bigger bullshitter and liar than ChatGPT.

On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 11:30:01 +0000
The Happy Hippy <the.happy.hippy.nntp@ntlworld.invalid> wrote:

> Why so much of the 1.6 mile bridge collapsed.

<quotes>

Similarly designed bridges have a long history of catastrophic failure.

Though modern bridges are typically designed so a small failure in one area doesn't "propagate" to the entire bridge, steel-truss structures are particularly at risk.

One study found that more than 500 steel-truss bridges in the United States collapsed between 1989 and 2000.

</quotes>

On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 11:30:01 +0000
The Happy Hippy <the.happy.hippy.nntp@ntlworld.invalid> wrote:

> Why so much of the 1.6 mile bridge collapsed.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13239999/Baltimore-Bridge-collapse-Engineers-flimsy.html

<quotes>

Speaking to MailOnline, engineers explained that while the bridge was not inherently unsafe, its 'flimsy' structure meant it was prone to collapse if the supports were damaged.

According to the experts, it was almost certain that an impact like this would lead the Key Bridge to undergo a catastrophic collapse.

Julian Carter, a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, told MailOnline that knocking out the support pillar had the same effect as a house of cards coming crashing down.

'When you take away one of the supports you get a catastrophic failure because all those parts that are interconnected suddenly become overloaded,' he said.

In combination, these two features - interconnected parts and low redundancy - mean that if something does go wrong, the results very quickly become disastrous.

</quotes>

It makes on wonder why no one asked "What's the worse which could happen?" before approving the design in one of America's busiest shipping lanes.

Maybe they did, and it was simply profit before public safety.

It's not like America doesn't have a global reputation for shoddy and shit infrastructure.

Trump acknowledged it, promised to rectify that. He never did.

The Happy Hippy wrote:
> On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 14:06:36 -0400
> JeSSe <zo@so.org> wrote:
>
>> Since the entire structure, by design and necessity, is
>> interconnected, other portions of the structure, not necessarily
>> directly affected by a support failure, will be prone to being ripped
>> from place as well.
>
> Sounds like a design failure to me; were Boeing involved ?

and you call me the troll ?

--
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for
light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 15:29:57 -0400
JeSSe <zo@so.org> wrote:

> The Happy Hippy wrote:
> > On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 14:06:36 -0400
> > JeSSe <zo@so.org> wrote:
> >
> >> Since the entire structure, by design and necessity, is
> >> interconnected, other portions of the structure, not necessarily
> >> directly affected by a support failure, will be prone to being
> >> ripped from place as well.
> >
> > Sounds like a design failure to me; were Boeing involved ?
>
> and you call me the troll ?

More often a DECEITFUL LYING CUNT. Because you are.

It was just a throwaway snipe at Boeing, hardly trolling. It's nothing compared to the trolling you engage in multiple times a day.

Even your reply is more trolling than my post - Nothing to say about the substantive part of my reply ?

I guess not; you are simply trolling.

The Happy Hippy wrote:
> On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 15:29:57 -0400
> JeSSe <zo@so.org> wrote:
>
>> The Happy Hippy wrote:
>>> On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 14:06:36 -0400
>>> JeSSe <zo@so.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Since the entire structure, by design and necessity, is
>>>> interconnected, other portions of the structure, not necessarily
>>>> directly affected by a support failure, will be prone to being
>>>> ripped from place as well.
>>>
>>> Sounds like a design failure to me; were Boeing involved ?
>>
>> and you call me the troll ?
>

> It was just a throwaway snipe at Boeing, hardly trolling.
Exactly trolling - And all your posted diarrhea is throwaway.

At least things like this get you to think about something other than
dead muslims, if only for a brief few minutes ,,

--
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for
light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 17:13:47 -0400
JeSSe <zo@so.org> wrote:

> At least things like this get you to think about something other than
> dead muslims, if only for a brief few minutes ,,

It makes me wonder how many Muslims have Boeing killed ?

On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 18:52:58 +0000
The Happy Hippy <the.happy.hippy.nntp@ntlworld.invalid> wrote:

> Smart countries protect the piers and supports from being crashed
> into by shipping because they know these are the weakest links. A
> simple trick is to ensure they are in shallow water by raising the
> seabed so a heavy vessel grounds itself rather than impacts or they
> add sturdy deflectors and buttresses.

It appears this bridge did have protections, but they simply weren't up to the task.

Many would say that's the problem with much of American infrastructure, out-dated and ineffective, not able to do the job it is supposed to, not able to keep Americans and America safe from harm.

Trump promised to rectify that but never did.

https://theconversation.com/baltimore-bridge-collapse-a-bridge-engineer-explains-what-happened-and-what-needs-to-change-226716

<quotes>

There were two layers of protection: a so-called "dolphin" structure made from concrete, and a fender. The dolphins are in the water about 100 metres upstream and downstream of the piers. They are intended to be sacrificed in the event of a wayward ship, absorbing its energy and being deformed in the process but keeping the ship from hitting the bridge itself.

The fender is the last layer of protection. It is a structure made of timber and reinforced concrete placed around the main piers. Again, it is intended to absorb the energy of any impact.

Video recordings show a cloud of dust appearing just before the bridge collapsed, which may well have been the fender disintegrating as it was crushed by the ship.

It's clear the protection measures in place for this bridge were not enough to handle this ship impact.

Once the massive ship had made it past both the dolphin and the fender, the pier was simply incapable of resisting the impact.

</quotes>