Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed early Tuesday after a support column was hit by a large container ship, sending vehicles and people into the Patapsco River.
Luckily this happened around 1:30 in the morning, because at rush hour that bridge is bumper to bumper and the death toll would be in the hundreds or even thousands.
I wonder if the death toll from having emergency services having to take a longer, more congested route will be higher than the actual accident. That bridge is the only way to cross the Patapsco south of Baltimore.
I mean, you’re not wrong.
IIRC the hospitals are not spread out in ideal locations for this scenario, and I can’t see Baltimore pulling an infrastructure miracle to compensate for the collapse any time soon.
The traffic effects will be felt from Philadelphia to DC, so I imagine the feds will jump on this pretty quick. I think the biggest problem is that it’s a major bridge and the channel for a major port. Building a bridge without getting in the way of the shipping traffic is going to be complicated.
Luckily this happened around 1:30 in the morning, because at rush hour that bridge is bumper to bumper and the death toll would be in the hundreds or even thousands.
This is what I’m thinking.
Its a genuine miracle that this is such a small death toll in a major city like this.
One can hope this raises awareness to fracture critical (iirc the term?) bridges that are vulnerable to catastrophic failures
I wonder if the death toll from having emergency services having to take a longer, more congested route will be higher than the actual accident. That bridge is the only way to cross the Patapsco south of Baltimore.
I mean, you’re not wrong.
IIRC the hospitals are not spread out in ideal locations for this scenario, and I can’t see Baltimore pulling an infrastructure miracle to compensate for the collapse any time soon.
The traffic effects will be felt from Philadelphia to DC, so I imagine the feds will jump on this pretty quick. I think the biggest problem is that it’s a major bridge and the channel for a major port. Building a bridge without getting in the way of the shipping traffic is going to be complicated.
And I’m positive there will be extensive containership proofing upgrades that will complicate the build further.
Shows what I know about Baltimore. How interesting.