Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse

[Judas Maccabeus]

That is a 35 foot temporary channel. Will close in a few days, in order to get the ship out. 50 foot channel will open May 30th, if all goes well. That is far faster than I expected.

All the drawings I am seeing are for a cable stayed bridge. There is even still debate about the name! With the bickering that usually comes with Maryland politics, I will still estimate 10 years. Traffic is an absolute mess, es the top end of the Beltway and the tunnels.

[RZehr]

I’ll guess that they throw up a temporary bridge within 8 months. And then a new permanent one will take longer than…I’ll guess 4 years.

I think they have a temp bridge up within a year and maybe, maybe... a new one up sometime within 30 years.

I meant to say at least 4 years. Not before.

Oh dear:

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland plans to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge in just over four years at an estimated cost between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion, a state transportation official said Thursday.

The state plans to build a new span by fall of 2028, said David Broughton, a spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Transportation. He said the cost estimate is preliminary, and detailed engineering specifics have not been confirmed.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/body-5th-mis ... 37869.html

If they’re saying just over 4 years, then I’m probably way off.
If they get the right crew on it, they could drag it out to 8 years and $4 billion.

[MaxPC]

If they’re saying just over 4 years, then I’m probably way off.
If they get the right crew on it, they could drag it out to 8 years and $4 billion.

Or it will resemble this:


Or this:

[Ken]

Practically every other single bridge in the history of the US was made by the government. With very few exceptions such as the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit.

Why do you assume this one specifically will be a disaster or fiasco?

I think the most recent big bridge reconstruction was the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis after the original collapsed. The replacement bridge came was finished in about 10 months (3 months ahead of schedule) and on budget in 2009.

[barnhart]

Practically every other single bridge in the history of the US was made by the government. With very few exceptions such as the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit.

Why do you assume this one specifically will be a disaster or fiasco?

Sometimes it feels like a luxury belief that people who live where government generally works obsess about its ineffectiveness.

[ohio jones]

Practically every other single bridge in the history of the US was made by the government. With very few exceptions such as the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit.''

Why do you assume this one specifically will be a disaster or fiasco?

I think the most recent big bridge reconstruction was the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis after the original collapsed. The replacement bridge came was finished in about 10 months (3 months ahead of schedule) and on budget in 2009.

"The government" (by which I assume you mean the federal government) does not build bridges. It often funds them, at least in part. But they are built by contractors who contract with the state Departments of Transportation. And it's entirely possible that the Minnesota DOT is more efficient than the Maryland DOT; I suppose we will find out over the next few months or years.

[Ken]

Practically every other single bridge in the history of the US was made by the government. With very few exceptions such as the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit.''

Why do you assume this one specifically will be a disaster or fiasco?

I think the most recent big bridge reconstruction was the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis after the original collapsed. The replacement bridge came was finished in about 10 months (3 months ahead of schedule) and on budget in 2009.

"The government" (by which I assume you mean the federal government) does not build bridges. It often funds them, at least in part. But they are built by contractors who contract with the state Departments of Transportation. And it's entirely possible that the Minnesota DOT is more efficient than the Maryland DOT; I suppose we will find out over the next few months or years.

Well no, of course not. It is contractors. That is the case with every big government construction project. But that doesn't change my point.

Most of those big civil engineering construction firms only contract with the the government. The private sector doesn't do much in the way of large scale infrastructure projects other than the occasional private toll road. If it is an airport, highway, or bridge, or harbor, it is almost certainly a government project.

[ohio jones]

Practically every other single bridge in the history of the US was made by the government. With very few exceptions such as the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit.''

Why do you assume this one specifically will be a disaster or fiasco?

I think the most recent big bridge reconstruction was the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis after the original collapsed. The replacement bridge came was finished in about 10 months (3 months ahead of schedule) and on budget in 2009.

"The government" (by which I assume you mean the federal government) does not build bridges. It often funds them, at least in part. But they are built by contractors who contract with the state Departments of Transportation. And it's entirely possible that the Minnesota DOT is more efficient than the Maryland DOT; I suppose we will find out over the next few months or years.

Well no, of course not. It is contractors. That is the case with every big government construction project. But that doesn't change my point.

Most of those big civil engineering construction firms only contract with the the government. The private sector doesn't do much in the way of large scale infrastructure projects other than the occasional private toll road. If it is an airport, highway, or bridge, or harbor, it is almost certainly a government project.

Nor does it change my point that it's not "the the government", it's individual state governments.

[RZehr]

Too bad for Maryland that famed bridge builder C.C. Myers passed away recently.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day, because C.C. Myers didn’t have that contract.”

[ken_sylvania]

Practically every other single bridge in the history of the US was made by the government. With very few exceptions such as the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit.

Why do you assume this one specifically will be a disaster or fiasco?

I think the most recent big bridge reconstruction was the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis after the original collapsed. The replacement bridge came was finished in about 10 months (3 months ahead of schedule) and on budget in 2009.

The new Tappan Zee bridge opened about six months late and is currently the subject of a $900,000,000 claim from the general contractor.

In the Baltimore area, check out the Broening Hwy bridge replacement over Colgate Creek to get an idea why some of us are skeptical of an on-time and on-budge bridge replacement. It was originally supposed to be completed by the end of 2020, but by March of 2021 it was already 26% over budget and work hadn't even actually started yet. Now in 2024 it's almost half done - more than three years after it was supposed to be completely done.