Re:The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland Has C...
by throwup238 on Tuesday March 26, 2024 @12:46PM
(#39829990)
It was blocked off the shortly after the ship pilots sent their mayday signal and declared an emergency, giving the traffic that was on the bridge time to make it through.
Most (all?) of the people on the bridge were contractors repairing potholes.
> I wonder if it makes sense to protect bridges with pylons like they have in front of buildings to stop cars and trucks.
They're called "dolphins" and some bridges do have them.
Re:The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland Has C...
by bmitc on Tuesday March 26, 2024 @03:24PM
(#39831795)
> It was blocked off the shortly after the ship pilots sent their mayday signal and declared an emergency, giving the traffic that was on the bridge time to make it through.
This video makes that a little hard to believe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJNRRdha1Xk. Looks like traffic was crossing up until the last second.
Will have to do some more reading as it's very confusing what the ship was doing and what it should have been doing under normal circumstances. In the video, it almost looks like it was steered directly into the bridge. Very confusing.
> They're called "dolphins" and some bridges do have them.
Thanks for that!
What I am wondering is: why couldn't the bridge have been blocked off preventing casualties? It seems like more than just the boat and operators' failing if there's no time or secondary precautions if such failures occur.
I wonder if it makes sense to protect bridges with pylons like they have in front of buildings to stop cars and trucks.