insights

Is the Baltimore Bridge Disaster a Wakeup Call for US Infrastructure?

By And Minds Partners

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insights

Neither Solar, Wind nor Electric Energy Will Solve Our Environmental Problems if We Can’t Get It to Communities Before It Expires

By And Minds Partners
March 27, 2024, we all awoke to the unfortunate and shocking news of the Baltimore Bridge collapse. Based on what we know now, the bridge collapsed as a result of a large shipping vessel colliding with one of the main pillars of the bridge resulting in the entire bridge tumbling into the bay. This event, which happened around 1:20am this morning, was anticipated. The boat’s crew, identifying an engine issue, alerted the local port authority of an impending collision. The fact that the vessel was on course to come into contact with a major structural pillar should have allowed some time for the port authority to inform those construction workers on the bridge at the time and advise them to exit the bridge as quickly as possible. The fact that the workers did not immediately vacate causes one to develop a few hypotheses, many of which may be easy to prove or disprove in the coming days as more information about the collision comes to light: 1) if the workers were in fact informed, why did they not attempt to exit the bridge? Might they have misjudged the structural integrity of the pylon and chosen to take shelter?, 2) might the Port Authority have misjudged the speed of the vessel and the potential for catastrophic damage?, 3) is it possible that any reasonable person familiar with the bridge construction would have expected the bridge to remain intact after a slow moving vessel made contact with a major structural element of the bridge? Construction of the 1.6 mile long Francis Scott Key Bridge started in 1972 and it opened to traffic on March 23, 1977. It has been a critical passageway for travelers trying to reach downtown Baltimore for almost 50 years. In fairness, it may be one of the newer bridges along the east coast.