Fatal Design Flaws Ensured Collapse Of Maryland Bridge

ANALYSIS – Build Back Better? – Yes, we know a giant 100,000-ton container ship, the MV Dali, lost power and collided into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, bringing it crashing down. And that this was the primary cause of the bridge collapsing.

We have also been told that terrorism wasn't behind the tragedy, which is likely true. In my earlier piece, I also explained how the container ship's prior incidents and accidents should be explored in more depth since they point to a history of major problems. (RELATED: Ship That Collapsed Baltimore Bridge Had Troubled History)

But when the Democrat governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, quickly assured everyone after the tragic bridge collapse that it wasn't due to any structural issues, I also quickly noted that structural issues most certainly could have been contributing factors.

And his state government is largely to blame. (RELATED: Kids Find Gun In School Trash Can In Gun-Controlled Maryland)

It was obvious from the first photos of the collapse that the pylons holding up the bridge were not very sturdy and lacked any type of protection from ships running into them.

It was also fairly obvious that striking one pylon, out of several, even with a massive container ship, should not have caused an entire bridge to collapse. At least not if it was built today.

However, the Francis Scott Key Bridge was built before the latest standards on bridge protection were put in place. And it is only one of potentially tens of thousands like it across the country.

Being the world's third longest continuous truss bridge span, at 1,200 feet, the bridge was designed to distribute its load along its entire length, to span longer distances with less material, creating a more efficient structure than if the three spans were all independent of one another.

However, this design lacks redundancy, meaning that if one span failed, all of them would collapse.

This is called “fracture critical.” 

The bridge was completed in 1977, three years before the 1980 collapse of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge which crossed Tampa Bay in Florida that led to new regulations for protection of all new bridges.

These included artificial islands around the piers, “dolphins” – circular barriers filled with concrete or sand to divert ships and absorb the energy of an impact and fenders, crushable concrete boxes wrapped around the pier to protect it from impact.

They also include built up areas on the sea floor to ground ships before striking a pylon. (RELATED: Are Biden's Electric Cars Death Traps For First Responders?)

These were not applied to existing bridges, however, and while some of them were implemented to a limited degree in Baltimore, they appear insufficient to deal with a head-on collision from a modern cargo ship like the Dali, which, traveling at just eight knots, could have imparted 1.2 million joules of energy.

But why didn't Joe Biden's (bipartisan) massive “critical infrastructure” bill address these issues? Well, partly because many of those funds are being funneled into “green energy” projects and other “nonphysical infrastructure” efforts.

As CNBC reported, that trillion-dollar infrastructure bill designated $50 billion for climate resilience, for example.

It also allocated:

• $65 billion for clean energy and grid-related investments,
• $7.5 billion to build a national network of charging stations for electric vehicles,
• $55 billion to expand access to clean drinking water,
• $21 billion to clean up Superfund and brownfield sites and cap orphaned oil and gas wells.

That's over $200 billion for nonphysical, mostly green projects. And even when funds from that bill are directed at bridges, it's only a very small number.

In 2023, Biden's Transportation Secretary Buttigieg claimed only about 7,000 bridge projects, out of many tens of thousands needed, had already been funded.  And funded doesn't mean they will get repaired anytime soon.

Still, having state governments invest in their own infrastructure would also help. The Maryland Transit Authority owns and operates the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Where was the state government, Mr. Governor?

As the Daily Mail reported: “Experts said installing fenders would cost at least $3 million, but the collapse means a $15 million per day loss in economic activity and $1.5 million daily in state and local taxes – and that doesn't include the six men who are presumed dead.”

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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