Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed early Tuesday after a 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.
Shows what I know about Baltimore. How interesting.
And I’m positive there will be extensive containership proofing upgrades that will complicate the build further.