Re:The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland Has C...
by bobthepanda on Tuesday March 26, 2024 @01:56PM
(#39830780)
cable stays are also generally more popular these days because of the differences in material. All other things being equal, concrete is generally a lot cheaper than a steel truss bridge these days
Re:The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland Has C...
by londons_explore on Tuesday March 26, 2024 @04:30PM
(#39832484)
If they play the cards very carefully, they can pull out and recycle all the steel of the old bridge, and use that to pay for a new (cheaper) concrete bridge.
The bridge style in question
> Conversely, continuous truss bridges rely on rigid truss connections throughout the structure for stability. Severing a continuous truss mid-span endangers the structure. However, continuous truss bridges do not experience the tipping forces that a cantilever bridge must resist because the main span of a continuous truss bridge is supported at both ends.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_truss_bridge
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Scott_Key_Bridge_(Balt...
So taking out one end basically takes out the whole thing.
I would not be surprised that when they build the replacement, it will be a design where the individual components are more self-resilient, like:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable-stayed_bridge
The engineering best practices, budgets, and needs may have been different fifty years ago. Cargo ships were also a lot smaller fifty years ago.