Baltimore Bridge Collapse Reignites Calls For Infrastructure Repair

I’m surprised they haven’t linked it to ‘climate change’, but, surprisingly, the typical Warmists are silent

Baltimore bridge collapse reignites calls for fixes to America’s aging bridges

Bridge experts and U.S. presidents have decried the nation’s aging bridges and lack of maintenance for decades.

Calls for sorely needed bridge infrastructure fixes resurfaced Tuesday after a Singapore-flagged cargo ship struck Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge. And while the circumstances of Tuesday morning’s disaster – a massive cargo ship charging into a support beam for the bridge – is an unpredictable event, experts still say the nation’s maintenance and repair record on bridges is an important factor that needs to be addressed. (snip)

Rick Geddes, an infrastructure policy expert and director of Cornell University’s infrastructure policy program, said the bridge collapse highlights several critical issues.

“This disaster reveals how exposed America’s critical infrastructure is to sudden and devastating accidents as well as intentional destruction,” Geddes said. “Improved resilience should be on everyone’s mind as aging infrastructure is rebuilt. Enhanced protection against ship-bridge collisions will certainly become more salient.”

Still, it’s unlikely Baltimore’s bridge stood a chance against the 984-foot Singapore-flagged Dali cargo ship crash that led to its collapse despite the quality of its build. Because the ship collided with one of the bridge’s main support columns, there wasn’t enough support to hold its load, bridge experts told USA TODAY.

While there’s certainly no doubt that many bridges need repair or replacement – many are old and/or carrying way more traffic than built for – haven’t we already passed lots of legislation on fixing bridges? Obama’s Stimulus contained a lot of money for this, and, wasn’t some guy named Joe Biden in charge of the infrastructure projects? Many of the smaller stimulus bills also dealt with infrastructure. Was the Inflation Reduction Act supposed to deal with this, as well?

Trump tried to pass an infrastructure bill throughout his presidency, and Democrats refused to play ball and pass one.

Here’s an idea: if a bridge on a federal highway needs repair or replacement, have a bill that specifically allocates money to do that. Otherwise, states should deal with this. Otherwise, the money simply gets pissed away on graft and idiocy, rather than repair/replace.

As for the Baltimore bridge, that area is in big trouble. The Maryland DOT says 34,000 vehicles cross it a day. Now they all have to go elsewhere. The Baltimore Harbor Tunnel is the next closest crossing. That’s a lot of traffic to add, and 18 wheelers just barely fit in the tunnel. One bad bump over something that fell off a vehicle and they hit the ceiling. If they are carrying hazardous material they have to go to a different crossing.

Then there’s the shipping. As long as the bridge is in the water ships cannot make it into the port of Baltimore, meaning no goods coming in. Meaning there’s no work for a lot of people. The shipping will have to go to other ports, but, some might not be able to handle all that extra traffic, and may not have the infrastructure to move the goods where it needs to go. Baltimore is set up to move vehicles from the ships to the trains to elsewhere. Is the Norfolk area? How about the ports in NC and SC? I know there’s one in Georgia which does, and up in Newark, NJ area. How about the Delaware ports on the Delaware, primarily Newark, Delaware?

All the truckers will have to move elsewhere. Jobs involving the Baltimore port will dry up. This will be a mess.

I’m not going to jump into conspiracy theories. This is either just a tragic occurrence, where everything bad just came together, or an intentional act

Is it normal for ships to travel in a pattern that would take it that close to the support? Don’t they usually go more for the middle? https://t.co/2fu0jA5bg8 pic.twitter.com/0u2eC6Xmvv

— William Teach2 ??????? #refuseresist (@WTeach2) March 26, 2024

Further, it seemed to be going pretty fast in the harbor approaching the bridge. Anyhow, how long will it take to replace? My vote is 20 years, what with DEI and ‘climate change’ considerations. Heck, it will probably take 2-3 years just to clean the bridge out of the river. Maybe they’ll put choo choo tracks on it

So Joe Biden, once again confused, asserts that he has traveled over the Francis Scott Key Bridge by train “many times,” despite the fact that there are NO train tracks on that bridge….
????????????#baltimorebridge#Baltimore#BaltimoreStrong#BaltimoreBridgeCollapse pic.twitter.com/Z0nRnBVvCM

— Richard (@ricwe123) March 26, 2024

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