Waiting to see if they have implemented the incident command system for the operations. This puts one person in charge to coordinate all of the operations. So far it sound like they have three or four salvage operations for the various parts but not sure who is in charge to call the shots. Without this structure, which is used for all major emergencies, it could cause delays and a general cluster you know what.
You arenāt sure and you donāt really need to know.
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Bridge over water is considerably more complicated than a highway bridge. This is a long span bridge. It could easily take several years.
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The I 35 bridge was over water. But the process was expedited including removing the rubble. The bridge though is simply a traffic issue. The big problem is opening the channel again to ship traffic. Barge traffic was the only river traffic problem in minnesota. Some of us are still concerned how our federal dollars are spent as well as the economic issues that affect far more than one state. Sooner the better.
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Big projects outlast political terms. The next people in office kill the prior peopleās projects and start the blame game. The worst scenario for taxpayers is if they buy all the land, start laying tracks and the project gets killed. Wasted money. No sense starting something until there is a long term commitment or a smaller subset of the overall project can be completed in a timely fashion before the prevailing winds change directionā¦
I see no lack of energy to get this bridge rebuilt, but Iām passively watching from 3000 miles away and really, itās only curiosity on my part. We have had several major bridge and highway challenges since we moved to the Bay Area in 1995, and they have been met and resolved quite well, in spite of our famous ability to argue about everything. So, letās be real about this. Shouting about how incompetent government is, is just complete nonsense. None of us has any idea whatās actually going on, except for what the trash on the internet tells us, which is about as reliable as a junior high school rumor mill.
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ā¦ and the conspiracy theories that immediately began to circulate are so bizarre that they defy belief:
It seems that they donāt defy belief among some in our population. Thatās what really is hard to accept.
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Watch some videos on Geordie howe bridge. They like to spend money.
Seems a little Far fetched but letās wait until the power loss is determined and the loss of video and audio for the critical time period.
Itās interesting though that another engineer reported the state was considering upgrading the dolphins to modern standard but didnāt want to spend the $64 million for the project.
Letās just call a spade a spade but sounds like California is also looking for federal money for the same thing. A case can be made for federal or state money or both for infrastructure hardening projects and simply points out what damage could be done by our enemies.
And unfortunately there are enough people who lack the education and critical thinking skills to believe every word of them. Have you ever listened to a flat-earther? OMG those people are thee dumbest people. And right along with them are the Alex Jones followers. And letās not forget the election deniers.
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Letās not forget that Alex Jonesāwho stated that the ship/bridge accident was āthe start of WW IIIāāmakes a lot of money by selling food and other supplies to āpreppersā who believe that The end is near. His lies are ultimately self-serving.
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One thing about NBC though is they will never miss an opportunity to bash their enemies. Iām willing to believe in crew incompetence, poorly maintained equipment, and fateful perfect timing, until there is evidence to the contrary.
One glaring reality though is that Maryland decided not to update the pier protection for an estimated 64 million that would have prevented the damage. Seems like a no brainer for a major shipping channel and a through truss bridge that now might cost two billion.
Like usual there are many areas to investigate and lost opportunities to prevent the disaster and legitimate stories to be written. The law suits will go on for years to determine negligence. But a channel so narrow between piers, the currents, tides, a bridge too low for high tides, like a camel through the eye of a needle as they say. Seems like preventive measures should have been rated a little higher.
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One point worth covering here. The New York Times published a transcript of the radio conversations from the Maryland Transportation Police Channel. It seems like they did very well. No BS, no hesitation, everyone got on it fast and shut both ends of the bridge down ASAP. The work crew in the middle got trapped but everything else was covered. Fortunately it was 1:30 am, light traffic.
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Concur, the new reports suggest the folks involved did a very good job sticking to their public safety plan. Whoever was involved in creating the safety plan and getting everyone involved onboard and properly equipped so that it worked when needed should be congratulated.
Itās worthwhile to review all aspects of this disaster. But we have to remember that thereās always going to be a limited pot of money available for infrastructure improvements. If more had been spent on this bridge (by installing a guard-rail around the two piers for example), that would have taken money from the other candidates. Which might have resulted in an even worst disaster. The folks spending the infrastructure improvement money have to choose from among all the candidates, and choose based on which will produce the most bang for the buck.
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It was interesting reading a recent update on the Tampa sky line bridge collapse. Seems like one guy on the bridge saw the missing portion, backed his car up and frantically waved his arms to stop traffic. Several cars went around him and that greyhound bus filled with kids. All dead.
Too bad the 2 main piers will probably need to be rebuilt. It would really speed up new bridge if they put an exact copy back as much is done. Like the approaches. Too bad.
Sorry but it would be a very bad idea to duplicate that through truss design with the same problems. One piece goes and the whole bridge comes down. A modern suspension design would provide more redundancy and allow a higher bridge so that ships did not have to plan around low tide.
Thatās the wrong way to think about it, though it may be the way things get done. The right way is to calculate the cost and, if itās cost-efficient, do it. In every state other than California, boards of taxing entities (cities, counties, school districts, water districts, etc.) make a budget (always approved by an elected board) then the treasurer divides that budget by the total value of all taxable property to get a property tax rate. You spend money on your house to avoid more-expensive future damage.
The usual guy waving his arms on the road is a crazy guy.
It was designed 50 years ago. We make bridges better now.
Speaking of bridge disasters, remember Tacoma Narrows?
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