The shocking collapse of a bridge in Baltimore on Tuesday led to a frantic rescue effort, with at least six people presumed dead – but has also raised questions about the integrity of the structure.
The disaster stemmed from a container ship hitting the historic overpass – bringing it to an abrupt end after some 47 years. Formerly The Francis Scott Key Bridge, it was the third longest crossing of its kind.
Measuring in at 1,200 feet, it was named after the writer of The Star-Spangled Banner, due to the fact it stood some 100 yards of where Francis Scott Key saw the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814 – the battle that inspired the patriotic poem.
Its last inspection came in May 2021, which found that – despite being held up by just three support beams – it was in fair condition.
After the terrorist attacks on 9/11, city officials elected not to install pier guards around those beams, calling the undertaking too expensive. A boat hit one of those beams Friday night, causing a collapse that erased the structure in seconds.
Its history, however, remains, and leaves behind a lasting legacy.
This is what they do, they being the gov’t. they want more an more of your money, yell they need it or it is for the kids, so you all go brain dead and give up more of your money for them to do nothing but claim they did. But they can send billions to ukraine for a proxy war that will soon start WW3. Do you all hear anything about the Israel war anymore? No. gee I wonder why. Remember the bill that needed to be passed so they could closed the border? Yeah, they passed it, no boarded got closed, no money went there and it all went to ukraine. And on top of that, they can give free cell phones, and gift cards and places to stay to illegals who break the law. While vets and homeless people die in the streets. But you people love it which is why you do nothing about it, but complain, on a biased blog.
9/11 was in 2001. OweMalley was mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2007. So the post 9/11 decision not to provide sturdier protection for the bridge’s piers likely bears his fingerprints.
“Too expensive.”
They said the same thing about flood gates for New Orleans, which drowned ten years later.