Baltimore Bridge Collapse

I-695 Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed early this AM after being struck by a container ship. Several cars are reported missing.

Unbelievable! My God that is crazy.

I-695 Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed early this AM after being struck by a container ship. Several cars are reported missing.

Baltimore Bridge collapse

Not going to lie; these types of incidents sit in the back of my mind. You never think that it's going to be you, but the people involved never thought it was going to be them, either. All the trip planning and precautions we take can't avoid a disaster that we didn't know was coming.

Watching the news coverage. Amazing many more folks were not lost. Prayers for the 7 still missing.

That's incredible! It's surreal.

Oh man, I was over there two weeks ago picking up metal at the port. I can't even imagine what this will do to the traffic in that area. It was already unbearable at times.

Some shipping company is about to be bankrupt. How many things do you have to ignore to make such a disastrous mistake? It's jut hard to conceive.

What I find really sad about this incident is that this could have been prevented. This same type of accident has happened enough times with other bridges in the past that all bridges on navigable waterways like this should have had sufficient guards installed to protect the bridge supports from errant ships that use those waterways.

How many things do you have to ignore to make such a disastrous mistake? It's jut hard to conceive.

Let's see how this plays out. If you watch a sped-up version of it, the ship was heading in the right direction until the lights went out on the ship. Then it suddenly turns hard to the right, the lights flash on and off again, and it hits the bridge. It appears from the video that someone turned that ship, or when the power went out, it somehow made a sharp turn.

Either they lost control of the ship when the power went out, or it was done deliberately.

Very interesting observation Brett. Thanks for pointing all that out. I just briefly watched the video and hadn't even noticed those things.

It is being reported that the ship lost propulsion prior too. Although I’m not entirely sure what it means. Also appears this ship was from the Philippines.

That's going to cause a huge issue for quite a while as they have to re route ships to Southern ports to be unloaded. That bridge was also the oversized and heavy haul route in and out of the Dundalk ports since the small bridge next to the container port (the only other way in) is weight restricted. I used to travel that route all the time and truly hated going across that bridge.