Holy S**t - Baltimore

[MFS62]

A ship ran into a bridge, causing the bridge to collapse, blocking the #9 largest port in the country.
Of the many people on the bridge at the time, only two have been recovered.(so far)

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 18673.html

Terrible.
Later

[whippoorwill]

First thing I saw this morning 🙁

I have a niece in Pasadena she’s okay.

[Centerfield]

The stuff of nightmares.

How does a bridge go down like that with one ship hitting it. Crazy.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I watched the video of the collision. It's hard to believe. The collapse happened almost instantly.

The loss of lives is obviously the most tragic part of this, but the impact on auto traffic and shipping is going to take a long time to untangle.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Those cargo ships are massive, like a warehouse on the sea.

Sounds like they were lucky to avoid more injuries--ship sent a mayday signal giving workers time to restrict traffic onto the bridge (or so I've read)

[MFS62]

As of 12:45 PM, six people still missing.
Later

[metirish]

Unbelievable to see this unfold , I can't imagine any bridge being able to sustain an out of control ship like this , surprised this doesn't happen more often

[MFS62]

Unbelievable to see this unfold , I can't imagine any bridge being able to sustain an out of control ship like this , surprised this doesn't happen more often

It was built before regulations were passed that provide for floating barriers around bridge supports that would have absorbed the shock and re-directed the boat.
Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

Well, if that's the case, I don't see what would have stopped them from adding the floating barriers at any time over the last few decades.

[metirish]

Well, if that's the case, I don't see what would have stopped them from adding the floating barriers at any time over the last few decades.

Exactly

[MFS62]

Right-wingers are already pushing conspiracy theories:
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/p ... 234994467/

Disgraceful.
Later

[MFS62]

Well, if that's the case, I don't see what would have stopped them from adding the floating barriers at any time over the last few decades.

From what I've read, the add-ons don't do as good a job as those that are being built into the initial design under the new law. I'm not sure if this bridge had the add-ons.
Later

[MFS62]

Has anyone heard from our resident Baltimorean, Edgy?
Can he provide additional insight from his local media?
Later

[kcmets]

Edguardo is probably stuck in traffic.

[Edgy MD]

I’ve been on the road today, celebrating my wife’s birthday.

Please support the revitalization of our public infrastructure and push back against misinformation and disinformation.

[MFS62]

Please support the revitalization of our public infrastructure and push back against misinformation and disinformation.

Stay well, Edgy.
This ex-Baltimore reporter is really pushing back against the conspiracy theorists.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/wir ... 31374.html

Later

[kcmets]

Happy birthday, Señora Edguardo!

I read some want to impeach Buttigieg. I don't know if you can impeach
the Secretary of Transportation but some of the nut jobs don't care so long
as they can spew the spew.

[Edgy MD]

Oh, they can impeach him. They may not have any grounds to, but its a lot easier than doing any actual governing. Three attempted impeachments at once should pretty much clear the rest of the Congressional agenda, if there ever was anything else on the rest of the agenda to begin with.

The señora thanks you kindly.

[metirish]

The vile comments about the mayor are truely awful

[Edgy MD]

Who is doing that?

[metirish]

This right here is typical of what Twitter is currently throwing on my feed

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, we choose our mayors through fair and open elections here in Baltimore, just like in many other cities.

I do not know if that X-er is anybody with any kind of authority, but I hope not.

[Lefty Specialist]

As for the construction of the bridge, almost no bridge would be able to survive a direct hit like that. The vessel was moving at 9 mph, which means there was a f*ckton of momentum. Imagine the Empire State building turned on its side coming at you at a brisk jog. There were bridge protectors but they were set up to block/deflect a perpendicular hit, but this vessel came in on an angle.

Container ships these days are easily 3 times the size they were only 20 years ago. They spent 10 years and untold billions widening the Panama Canal and it's already outdated. They spent over a billion dollars raising the Bayonne Bridge to accommodate these vessels. While building enormous ships makes it cheaper for the vessel carriers, it makes it costlier for everyone else.

Baltimore's port is closed indefinitely, but other US ports will probably be able to take up the slack. They may be able to get the bridge cleared out in a few months. Building a new bridge could take a decade.

[Edgy MD]

We've got 15,000 jobs directly related to our port, and perhaps 10 times as many indirectly linked.

This is a wonderful place to live, but like many cities, we've got a lot of institutions crumbling — our churches, schools, newspapers — and we've been working hard to rebuild our purpose and community. This is not where we expected the next hit to come from.

[whippoorwill]

The two men who were rescued will really have a story to tell.
What a shame that they couldn’t have all gotten off the bridge to safety.
Very sad tragedy.