Baltimore bridge collapses into river after being hit by cargo ship

A portion of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore has collapsed after a large boat collided with it early on Tuesday morning, sending multiple vehicles into the water.

At about 1.30am, a vessel crashed into the bridge, catching fire before sinking and causing multiple vehicles to fall into the water below, according to a video posted on X.

“All lanes closed both directions for incident on I-695 Key Bridge. Traffic is being detoured,” the Maryland Transportation Authority posted on X.

Matthew West, a petty officer first class for the coastguard in Baltimore, told the New York Times that the coastguard received a report of an impact at 1.27am ET. West said the Dali, a 948ft (29 metres) Singapore-flagged cargo ship, had hit the bridge, which is part of Interstate 695.

legittai,

As an Engineer I am looking forward to seeing how this plays out on future construction as well as retrofitting of existing bridges. Not only that, but also Emergency alert systems on cargo ships and maybe a more redundant power set up? But RIP to all those who lost their lives. Tragic.

Poem_for_your_sprog,

It didn’t just collapse ‘after’ being hit. It was destroyed by the collision.

Emerald,

Well yeah, I don’t see how it’s wrong to say it collapsed after being hit by a cargo ship.

Andonyx,

I have to agree, if the headline says, “Man dies after drinking Drano,” nobody is under the impression it was a coincidence.

UnaSolaEstrellaLibre,

Man I wouldn’t want to be this boat’s insurance.

TokenBoomer,

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/cd32fa59-3334-4db0-8cfc-348aacf427e8.jpeg

homura1650,

Police audio from the event:

washingtonpost.com/…/baltimore-key-bridge-collaps…

It sounds like police got their just in time to stop traffic. One of the officers says that as soon as backup arrives to take over stopping traffic he would go and evacuate the workers; when we get the report that the bridge is gone.

If you watch the stream of the crash, you can see that traffic was flowing just moments before it fell.

A_Random_Idiot,

which is a prime example of a why a bridge built in a shipping lane should be built to stricter standards that would prevent a total fucking collapse from a errant ship.

FiniteBanjo, (edited )

For sure, and furthermore the city should have some sort of tugboats capable of stopping a rogue ship if it had time to give out a mayday. Just attach a line to the back of the hull when it enters the channel and give throttle in the opposite direction to halt it.

EDIT: People downvoting like “snort small ship not pull big ship, so dumb”

OminousOrange,
@OminousOrange@lemmy.ca avatar

Your username is quite fitting.

A_Random_Idiot,

“Bridges should be built to resist entirely predictable accidents”

Lemmy: “angry, incoherent screaming”

EndlessNightmare,

I feel like I’m back on Reddit

A_Random_Idiot,

Eh, on reddit they’d at least have the balls to comment and reveal how fucking stupid their pro-bridge collapse arguments were.

Gestrid,

I’m just glad it happened in the dead of night and that the ship sent a mayday several minutes before it happened. State Police were apparently able to close the bridge and clear most of the traffic (it’s 1.6 miles/ 2.6 kilometers long) off of it before it collapsed. It’s sad that there were still construction workers and some cars still left on it, though.

PutangInaMo,

I’m so confused why a mayday wasn’t sent out earlier though. Like they had to have known collision was imminent.

And weren’t there local authorities on board that were guiding them through the waterway?

chiliedogg,

They lost power, dropped anchor, and called a mayday. By the sound of it the pilot probably did everything perfect. But whatever caused the power loss and engine failure is gonna be looked at very closely.

I think new procedures for having tugs hooked up until ships are entirely clear of port may be on their way - even if they’re mostly just escorts unless the ship’s engines fail.

There’s gonna be a lot of pointing fingers and yelling, but hopefully in the end things will be safer than they are today. From the sound of it we got really lucky on the “lives lost” side of things.

Dasus,

I’m so confused why a mayday wasn’t sent out earlier though. Like they had to have known collision was imminent.

Prolly something like:

“Aww nah, theres no need m8, I’m sure we’ll figure something out”

I’ve heard the same thing with another issue

science.nasa.gov/climate-change/effects/

someguy3,

Crazy. Even with the mayday I’m amazed they could get police in position fast enough.

generichate1546,

Maryland has the MTA police (tunnel rats) who are in charge of the toll roads (originally just the tunnels but it’s expanded) so I’m sure there there MTA cops lurking about. Thank God they jumped to action.

tal,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

According to WP, it was still pretty quick. They had about two or three minutes from loss of power to collision. That had the pilot assess the situation, call a mayday and request the bridge be closed, dispatch to order the cops to act, and them to act. Then it had to take time for the bridge to clear.

One cop said on the radio that as soon as he got the traffic shut off, he was going to go evacuate the bridge workers, which obviously they didn’t have time to do, but that was still quick. I would not have expected that to have happened so rapidly.

en.wikipedia.org/…/Francis_Scott_Key_Bridge_colla…

Dali left the Port of Baltimore at 12:44 a.m. EDT (04:44 UTC) on March 26, 2024,[24] bound for Colombo, Sri Lanka.[25] Two local pilots were piloting the ship.[10] At 1:26 a.m.,[26] the ship suffered a “complete blackout” and began to drift out of the shipping channel (a backup generator did not power the propulsion system).[13] The ship dropped its anchors as part of its emergency procedures.[3] At about 1:26 a.m., a mayday call was made from the ship,[26] notifying the Maryland Department of Transportation that control of the vessel had been lost and that a collision with the bridge was possible, citing loss of propulsion.[1] One of the pilots requested that traffic be stopped from crossing the bridge immediately.[3][27][28][29] The ship’s lights went out and came on again some moments later; the lights then went off again and powered back on immediately before impact as renewed smoke spewed from its funnel.[10][30] Following the pilot’s request, Maryland Transportation Authority Police dispatch requested officers to stop traffic in both directions at 1:27:53 a.m. Northbound traffic was stopped at the south side after 20 seconds. Southbound traffic was stopped at the north side at 1:28:58 a.m., with less than 30 seconds before collapse.[31]

At 1:28 a.m.,[32] the ship struck a support column of the bridge, beneath its metal truss and at the south-west end of its largest span, at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph).[11] AIS data shows the ship traveling at a speed of 8.7 knots (16.1 km/h; 10.0 mph) at 1:25 a.m. before departing the channel and slowing to 6.8 knots (12.6 km/h; 7.8 mph) by the time of the collision two minutes later.[30][33]

ipkpjersi,

It’s sad that there were still construction workers and some cars still left on it, though.

Hopefully police told the people to evacuate their vehicles

Gestrid,

Unfortunately, it would’ve simply been faster for them to drive to either end of the bridge. The Maryland Department of Transportation had already closed the bridge. The only traffic left on the bridge was the traffic that got through before the closure, but everything happened so fast I don’t think they had time to get off the bridge.

One article I read said that the mayday call, the bridge closure, the collision, and the collapse all happened in the span of about two minutes.

MeaanBeaan,

I live not five minutes away from the Key bridge and the sound of this woke me up last night. My GF takes this bridge to work every day. Driving through the city now for her every morning is going to be fucking awful.

someguy3,

Time to move. Or switch jobs.

Oderus,

Which is super easy to do. /s

someguy3,

If the traffic is bad enough you might not have many options.

EndlessNightmare,

Hopefully employers will allow WFH for jobs that can be feasibly done remotely. This will also help reduce traffic for those who cannot WFH.

force,

Sounds like a problem for the people who use cars. Leg commute gang

ipkpjersi,

But people do have dozens of jobs lined up at least, right?

Woht24,

I watched it on the news last night all the way from Australia and I said ‘man they just fucked that whole cities traffic up for a long time’.

Dozzi92,
@Dozzi92@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah, IIRC it is the route for hazmat trucks. Gonna fuck with a lot of businesses down the line for a bit too.

As an aside, they used to have a rave down in the park under the west side of the bridge a decade or so ago, and it was always awesome being on the beach stage looking at that bridge at night and as the sun would come up.

bluemite,

The construction workers that died is fucking awful. The traffic situation won’t be great, but at least she’s alive with a job to go to.

Pyr_Pressure,

Most people would take that as a given. He was just pointing out the effect on his own personal life.

It would be pretty annoying if everyone shared their own effect but had to precede it with a standard “I know it’s more awful for those with lives lost, but this affects me because…”

RubberElectrons,
@RubberElectrons@lemmy.world avatar

Wow, damn. Unfortunately similar to the Tasman Bridge collapse

May all involved find peace, that’s so tragic.

Thorny_Insight,

Well that looks expensive

Blackmist,

The scale doesn’t even come across in the video.

That bit you see collapse is half a mile long.

BreakDecks,

half a mile long

I think you mistyped this. It was a mile and a half long.

I_Miss_Daniel,

Time for a redundant array of inexpensive bridges?

(computer joke about backups and resilience.)

Or on a more serious note, maybe a tunnel?

RagingRobot,

They also have a tunnel and other Bridges

someguy3,

Looks like most crossing upstream are tunnels.

limelight79,

They are, with restrictions for hazmat, propane, and similar materials, so another tunnel with the same restrictions would be a major headache.

bitchkat,

The Beowulf Bridge.

AA5B,

There are two tunnels, plus you could go the long way around or on local streets. However there’s a lot of traffic, plus the tunnels have restrictions against hazardous or oversized loads

CaptPretentious,

So which version of RAIB you thinking? Because obviously, this has to be hardware, can’t do this with software. IMO, RAIB-5 is probably overkill but I think the locals would appreciate it.

TastyWheat,

RAIB-0 would be interesting enough. Each car split into equal parts across multiple bridges.

NegativeInf,

I’m thinking RAIB-0. Not one problem there. No problems at all.

Oderus,

I was thinking RAIB 10 . .no need for parity checking.

jaemo,

Just a Bunch Of Bridge.

quaddo,

What sort of cabling, do you suppose?

Strong Cable Support Infrastructure?

Mossheart,

What kind of RAIB array would you suggest?

werefreeatlast,

I saw this just now on goog-ul and the first thought was… two ships collided on the bridge? But ships don’t even drive on bridges!

Thorny_Insight,

Achtually

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F7jzmoonbc3551.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=439e09d36eb38604070dd2aa870c9cc8a52b350d2420657f68ab64a323d18318&ipo=images

werefreeatlast,

It’s gotta be the Dutch! It’s always the Dutch. I’ve also seen the one where the boat swings up on a rotating platform. Freaking Deutch.

Us, we live in the land of bridges made for cars only.

tal,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

I’ve also seen the one where the boat swings up on a rotating platform. Freaking Deutch.

If you’re talking about what I think you’re talking about, that’s British.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkirk_Wheel

tal,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

But ships don’t even drive on bridges!

They’re a tricky lot, those ships.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navigable_aqueduct

EDIT: Though for at least some of those, they’re smaller and the right term is probably “boat” than “ship”.

anon_8675309,

That’s gonna cause some delays.

SeemsNormal,

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/ae216513-594a-42e6-9aa7-601686cf7e08.jpeg

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/2ca390c6-22ec-4f2e-b816-1eb1bef49076.jpeg

That’s the ship that hit the bridge. It’s still there as I write this, but there are a bunch of tugs on scene right now.

Marine traffic can show you all the active AIS contacts in real time.

SeemsNormal,

Found a photo of the bridge on it.

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/d046250b-2e47-4b83-bad8-fa28bcb92fda.jpeg

elfin8er,

Seems normal.

sylver_dragon,

The investigation report is going to be interesting. While bridges can only take so much punishment, they are usually designed to survive some collisions with their pylons. I wonder what the state of the bridge was, prior to the collapse. If it’s anything like the rest of the infrastructure in the US, it was probably not good. Though, this may also be a case that the designers in the 70’s planned for a collision with a cargo vessel of the times, which were tiny bath tub boats compared to the super container ships we have now. The Dali was built in 2015 she is a 300m ship capable of carrying 116851 tons. That’s a lot of mass for the pylon and it’s barriers to stop.

Telodzrum,

This is the absolute dumbest shit I’ve seen in a while. And it’s said so confidently, kind of amazing.

Blumpkinhead,

Why do you say that?

Telodzrum,

This structure was hit head on by a laden container ship. Container ships weigh between 50,000 and 200,000 tons depending on size and cargo. There is not a structure capable of being created by man which could sustain that amount of force, head on, and retain its structural integrity.

Buncha armchair idiots think they know more about bridge construction than civil engineers. Gods, this place is just more and more like Reddit by the minute.

Syd,

Because of a contradictory ass like yourself.

fine_sandy_bottom,

It takes a pretty special kind of small mindedness to think that this accident will be uninteresting to engineers because container ships are simply too heavy to consider building against.

drphungky,

Kinda crazy how those same construction and civil engineers are going to be investigating if the normal means of protection for this very foreseeable event was done correctly, because we design things to avoid these head on collisions:

wjla.com/…/questions-investigators-will-be-asking…

Also, not for nothing but even if they find out the dolphins in place were sufficient based on prior standards…this event will likely update the standards, same as the sun bridge in the 80s. Regulations and best practices are written in blood.

AlexWIWA,

People always forget that deflection exists. I don’t know why that guy is hung up on stopping the ship instead of just nudging it forcefully. If we can figure out a way to deflect explosions and sabot rounds, we can deflect a ship.

drphungky,

Yeah also just the basic concept of sacrificial parts and things designed to wear. The derailleur hanger on your bike, crumple zones in cars, plastic gears in your KitchenAid mixer - lots of engineering practices are designed around shunting failure to a particular piece or in a particular way, to avoid otherwise catastrophic or very expensive damage.

Telodzrum,

Oh my god! No way! They’re going to investigate and learn from a rare event! That’s shocking!

We study things all the time. Your extrapolation that an investigation means something was preventable is evidence that your higher brain function has been damaged.

drphungky,

You: "There is not a structure capable of being created by man which could sustain that amount of force, head on, and retain its structural integrity.

Actual engineers in the linked article: literally describe how to build secondary structures to deal with giant ships and prevent head on collisions on bridges.

drphungky,

I know you stopped responding but I’m piling on because I’m apparently in an impish mood:

Sherif El-Tawil, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at University of Michigan with expertise in bridges, said if the Key Bridge had been built after those updated standards from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials were put in place, the span could still be standing.

“I believe it would have survived,” El-Tawil said.

From: washingtonpost.com/…/how-key-bridge-collapsed-bal…

SorryQuick,

The amount of force needed to deflect a large object is much smaller than to stop it. In fact, if done over a large enough distance, a tiny amount of force is sufficient.

Need an example? Imagine your big brother is skating down a slope. Could you block him, head on? Probably not. But what if your sister, who was skating next to him, were to slightly steer him out of the way so that he doesn’t hit you?

As an alternative, you can also slow him down over a long distance, requiring the same(?) force but applied in a smaller amount, longer.

FonsNihilo,

This is the absolute dumbest shit I’ve seen in a while. And it’s said so confidently, kind of amazing.

grue,

I’m pretty sure no bridge is designed to survive a collision with a large cargo ship, even a brand new one. It would balloon the cost so much nobody would be willing to pay it.

You999,

New bridges are built with protections such as pylons to prevent ships from even getting close to bumping into the bridge after the sunshine skyway bridge collapse of 1980.

Dark_Arc,
@Dark_Arc@lemmy.world avatar

This makes a lot of sense, thanks for the insight!

Socsa,

In this case I’m not sure it would have mattered. This wasn’t a bump or a glancing blow. There’s not much which will deflect or absorb that much energy head on.

You999, (edited )

I disagree, the geometry of protection dolphins use would deflect the ship enough to change its trajectory towards the walls of the channel bed where the ship would run aground before striking the bridge even from a head on collision.

Blumpkinhead,

What is a geometry protection dolphin?

elfin8er,

I believe it refers to this: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin_(structure)

You999,

They are concrete or wooden structures that are piled deep into the ground like fondation foundation pylons on skyscrapers. The geometry part I was just referring to how they are angled in such a way it ricochets the ship away from the structure it’s protecting or towards the channel. https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/73ba5bec-c718-4f0d-b353-9fa66941bd2c.jpeg

kaboom36,

So why on earth didn’t the bridge have these?

drphungky,

A. It did, just only a few and the investigation will probably reveal not enough based on giant ships these days.

B. It was built before the Sunshine bridge collapse in 1980 so before the standards were updated.

You999,

If I had to speculate? Cost savings… The bridge already had a history of cost reductions such as originally being built with a shared approach way which vastly increased the risk of head on collisions.

While the Key Bridge was built as a four-lane bridge, its approaches were kept to two lanes to save money

kaboom36,

So in their effort to save money, they got 6 people killed and now have to spend presumably much more on a whole new bridge…

You999,

Possibly but you have to keep in mind this bridge was designed in the late 60s when a lot of the safety regulations that were written in blood hadn’t happened yet. The Florida state sunshine skyway bridge collapse wouldn’t happen for over a decade after the Francis Scott Key bridge opened.

fine_sandy_bottom,

A bridge is quite different to a pylon though.

Literally a block of concrete embedded in the sea floor.

Blackmist,

I suspect there’ll be a lot of places taking a good long look at their current chunks of concrete they put around bridge supports and wondering how they’d stand up to the monstrous ships that are now the norm.

This kind of incident may not happen often but it does happen.

skulblaka,
@skulblaka@startrek.website avatar

I imagine a lot of places may wonder about this and then kick that can down the road until someone does actually collide with their bridge.

Blackmist,

!remindme 40 years.

itsnotits,
  • in the '70s* planned
  • and its* barriers to stop
Two2Tango,

It’s* no tits

PrincessLeiasCat, (edited )

www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/inspection/

I think you can look up certain characteristics such as this here, I’ve done it before and exported data into Excel when I was looking into something else. If this isn’t the specific site I apologize, I’m on mobile, but it is publicly available.

Edit: these links may be better:

www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/nbi/element.cfm

…data.gov/…/national-bridge-inventory-system-nbi

infobridge.fhwa.dot.gov/Data

geodata.bts.gov/datasets/…/explore

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