From what I can see from photos, the bridge that was hit by a container ship was more exposed than a bridge of its type should be. I don't see any large protection dolphins, which considering the danger of a ship collision, should have been placed long ago.
I may be missing the dolphins, but even if they were there, they weren't designed for the larger ships that serviced Baltimore. Time will tell how this all works out, but it's looking to me like some negligence will surface, and will be blamed on anyone but the officials that could have made a difference, but didn't want to spend the money, or were hoping nothing would happen while they were in charge.
I probably need to clarify about what a protection dolphin is. The local large bridges have them at each corner of the main supports to act as fender to prevent a ship from striking the columns. Each consists of a circular outside wall of sheet pile driven into the channel bed, the inside filled with select fill material and the top capped with concrete. They're substantial, and any ship would be stopped before striking the bridge supports.
Indian ship maintenance plus neglected infrastructure equals . . .
ReplyDeleteIt surprises me that the most necessary construction to protect an important bridge was never completed. Regardless of the city's incompetence, the state should have stepped in to protect their resources, and I believe a wise representative could have secured the funds from the Federal government. Then again, they might have done just that, and some more important thing came up, such as guaranteeing all lesbian transexual paraplegic people of color had a multi-million facility, with staff, built for all three of them.
Deletethat assumes the state is any better run than the city. its not.
DeleteWhen this bridge was designed cargo ships were MUCH smaller than they are today. The design didn't take into account the size of cargo ships, the force they exert and the lack of maneuvering room in the harbor. It's a wonder this doesn't happen more often.
ReplyDeleteI've looked at the bridge form satellite photos. The supports were basically out in the open and without any protection. Texas had a bridge in Corpus Christi struck by a loaded barge string years ago, which resulted in protection dolphins. In a perfect world, it would have been a wake-up call for all states.
DeleteWhen you get a minute, get out your road atlas or mapping program and start looking for bridges over the Mississippi and then search for images of those bridges and see how many - or how few - have dolphins despite heavy barge traffic. Or just start with the I-10 bridge at Baton Rouge, where the port gets ocean going vessels even though it's a hike up from the gulf.
ReplyDeleteThere are too many. Some have substantial piling caps, which may prevent a catastrophic failure, but what I know of Louisiana, allocated funds sometimes don't reach the intended use. Funds for dolphins might have paved the highway to a senator's home.
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