Francis Scott Key Bridge (I-695) complete collapse after large ship hits it

[J N Winkler]

Google Maps no longer shows the bridge.

Hope the Street View doesn't go with it.

It shouldn't

Unfortunately, it did.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Google Maps no longer shows the bridge.

Hope the Street View doesn't go with it.

It shouldn't

Unfortunately, it did.

It did but you can still access it by viewing the Street View of the approaches and manually moving onto the bridge.

[hotdogPi]

You don't even have to do it that way. Just click where the bridge used to be, and it will work.

[The Ghostbuster]

Does anyone know why Broening Hwy. (exit 44 on Interstate 695) is shown on maps as MD 695? Wikipedia says its officially MD 695A: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_695_(Maryland)#Auxiliary_routes, although Google Maps and Rand McNally show it as MD 695. There is also a MD 695B and a MD 695C, although all three routes are not signposted.

[J N Winkler]

Thanks--I tried both approaches and, yes, they do work, at least in Firefox on Windows.  Clicking on the missing segment requires that StreetView blue lines be active (clicking on Peg Man toggles them on).  If the cursor hovers over the missing segment, where the blue lines would otherwise go but now do not, a preview will show.  Dragging and dropping Peg Man just takes you to still images photographed from a drone when the bridge was still standing.

[roadman65]

https://maps.app.goo.gl/536BJFxJfFXRhBww9
Still works. Drag the peg man to the approach and virtually move up the span and you get the old roadway.

[Mapmikey]

Does anyone know why Broening Hwy. (exit 44 on Interstate 695) is shown on maps as MD 695? Wikipedia says its officially MD 695A: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_695_(Maryland)#Auxiliary_routes, although Google Maps and Rand McNally show it as MD 695. There is also a MD 695B and a MD 695C, although all three routes are not signposted.

If you are referring to Maryland official state or county maps it is because they don't put the suffixes on the labels.  So for example all the different suffixed segments of MD 7 are shown as just MD 7.

[Henry]

FWIW, suffixed route numbers should be signed only if the letter stands for a cardinal direction. And don't get me started on the I-270 and I-895 spurs either.

[Alex]

Does anyone know why Broening Hwy. (exit 44 on Interstate 695) is shown on maps as MD 695? Wikipedia says its officially MD 695A: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_695_(Maryland)#Auxiliary_routes, although Google Maps and Rand McNally show it as MD 695. There is also a MD 695B and a MD 695C, although all three routes are not signposted.

Maryland numbers branches of a route with suffixes, but those are for inventory purposes and often things such as frontage roads or access roads. You can see where they are on MDOT GIS files and also the Highway Location Reference reports. The one for Baltimore County is here.

[hotdogPi]

FWIW, suffixed route numbers should be signed only if the letter stands for a cardinal direction. And don't get me started on the I-270 and I-895 spurs either.

So MA 1A should be unsigned? This is the same situation.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Does anyone know why Broening Hwy. (exit 44 on Interstate 695) is shown on maps as MD 695? Wikipedia says its officially MD 695A: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_695_(Maryland)#Auxiliary_routes, although Google Maps and Rand McNally show it as MD 695. There is also a MD 695B and a MD 695C, although all three routes are not signposted.

Maryland numbers branches of a route with suffixes, but those are for inventory purposes and often things such as frontage roads or access roads. You can see where they are on MDOT GIS files and also the Highway Location Reference reports. The one for Baltimore County is here.

And usually those suffixed routes aren't signed, although sometimes they appear on mileposts.

[74/171FAN]

Does anyone know why Broening Hwy. (exit 44 on Interstate 695) is shown on maps as MD 695? Wikipedia says its officially MD 695A: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_695_(Maryland)#Auxiliary_routes, although Google Maps and Rand McNally show it as MD 695. There is also a MD 695B and a MD 695C, although all three routes are not signposted.

Maryland numbers branches of a route with suffixes, but those are for inventory purposes and often things such as frontage roads or access roads. You can see where they are on MDOT GIS files and also the Highway Location Reference reports. The one for Baltimore County is here.

And usually those suffixed routes aren't signed, although sometimes they appear on mileposts.

With the exception of MD 835A.

[Mapmikey]

With the exception of MD 835A.

Or here - https://maps.app.goo.gl/z4t2gFGTH3J2hB4m7

[WillWeaverRVA]

https://maps.app.goo.gl/536BJFxJfFXRhBww9
Still works. Drag the peg man to the approach and virtually move up the span and you get the old roadway.

It's actually even simpler than that, if you drag the peg man to where the bridge used to be, you'll get sent to Street View even though there's no blue line.

It seems removing the bridge caused some other glitches because the blue lines are missing from some other bridges, particularly the VA 175 bridge into Chincoteague, but you can still access GSV of that location by dragging the peg man to where the blue line used to be.

[NE2]

Question that hasn't really been answered. Why was it kept as MD695 despite I695 being up to the standards except for drawbridges by 1999?

I'm pretty sure it's because some of those segments were still substandard (the Key Bridge was also substandard), plus it wasn't built on the original approved alignment for I-695 due to freeway cancellations.

There was never an approved alignment for I-695 there. The plan was always for 695 and 895 to form the Interstate beltway, and the east part of 695 was never added to the Interstate Highway System in any form.

[SteveG1988]

Question that hasn't really been answered. Why was it kept as MD695 despite I695 being up to the standards except for drawbridges by 1999?

I'm pretty sure it's because some of those segments were still substandard (the Key Bridge was also substandard), plus it wasn't built on the original approved alignment for I-695 due to freeway cancellations.

There was never an approved alignment for I-695 there. The plan was always for 695 and 895 to form the Interstate beltway, and the east part of 695 was never added to the Interstate Highway System in any form.

Huh, that makes perfect sense.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Question that hasn't really been answered. Why was it kept as MD695 despite I695 being up to the standards except for drawbridges by 1999?

I'm pretty sure it's because some of those segments were still substandard (the Key Bridge was also substandard), plus it wasn't built on the original approved alignment for I-695 due to freeway cancellations.

There was never an approved alignment for I-695 there. The plan was always for 695 and 895 to form the Interstate beltway, and the east part of 695 was never added to the Interstate Highway System in any form.

Appreciate the clarification.

[J N Winkler]

The incident response now has its own website:

https://www.keybridgeresponse2024.com/

Today's press release concerned the recovery of the body of Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandoval, aged 38, who was one of the workers on the bridge.

[Jim]

Since the collapse, I've driven through the area on the I-895 SB at night and didn't see the Key Bridge remains, landed at then took off from BWI but in bad weather so nothing but clouds until near the airport, and just now NB I-95, and finally got a brief view.  On today's ride MD 295 -> I-95 there were no VMS messages or signage modifications regarding the closure.  I guess if you don't know the bridge is out by now...

[Lyon Wonder]

I wonder if the steel of the bridge will be immediately sent to a scrap yard to be melted down and recycled, or will investigators keep hold of the remains of the bridge for awhile to further investigate how it collapsed?

[epzik8]

Since the collapse, I've driven through the area on the I-895 SB at night and didn't see the Key Bridge remains, landed at then took off from BWI but in bad weather so nothing but clouds until near the airport, and just now NB I-95, and finally got a brief view.  On today's ride MD 295 -> I-95 there were no VMS messages or signage modifications regarding the closure.  I guess if you don't know the bridge is out by now...

The VMS messages were gone within about 36 hours.

[SteveG1988]

I wonder if the steel of the bridge will be immediately sent to a scrap yard to be melted down and recycled, or will investigators keep hold of the remains of the bridge for awhile to further investigate how it collapsed?

honestly, the method of collapse is a well known thing at this point, truss was overloaded when a major pier was removed. It wasn't a defect, just a flaw in the design from day 1. So i am going to assume it will be kept for a little bit, then scrapped.

[bwana39]

honestly, the method of collapse is a well known thing at this point, truss was overloaded when a major pier was removed. It wasn't a defect, just a flaw in the design from day 1.

I said this above. If you take out a pier or a tower on any bridge , it is going to fall. Maybe not as quickly as a truss bridge, but if you lose a support like this unless you have duplicate supports (and virtually nothing does,) it is going to fall.

This collapse goes well beyond the definition of "fracture critical". Fracture critical USUALLY means the failure of a single SUBORDINATE part can cause a collapse. The loss of a pier (or a tower on a suspension or cable stayed bridge) will allow the bridge to collapse. It might even cause it to collapse when it is damaged or fails.

[roadman65]

honestly, the method of collapse is a well known thing at this point, truss was overloaded when a major pier was removed. It wasn't a defect, just a flaw in the design from day 1.

I said this above. If you take out a pier or a tower on any bridge , it is going to fall. Maybe not as quickly as a truss bridge, but if you lose a support like this unless you have duplicate supports (and virtually nothing does,) it is going to fall.

This collapse goes well beyond the definition of "fracture critical". Fracture critical USUALLY means the failure of a single SUBORDINATE part can cause a collapse. The loss of a pier (or a tower on a suspension or cable stayed bridge) will allow the bridge to collapse. It might even cause it to collapse when it is damaged or fails.

That's because you have the piers holding up several hundred feet of roadway. Unlike normal bridges where the spans are far less.  Here you had both sides of the bridge holding each other in place. Once the trickle effect hit the middle it than loosened the other side of the bridge throwing it off balance to then fall itself. Even when it got to the other pier, the other side of that became top heavy and fell backwards itself.

This design relied on all of its parts together holding the bridge up and steady on its two pylons.

[jmacswimmer]

Got a view of the scene (from a distance) for the first time while heading into downtown Baltimore for a concert Sunday afternoon. This is from I-95 NB exit 53 onto I-395 - the "stumps" of the intact spans on either side, as well as the Dali, are visible in the distance.





Speaking of the Dali, latest I saw on Sunday is that crews are beginning to remove containers from the front of the Dali in preparation for lifting the portions of the truss sitting directly across the ship.

https://www.keybridgeresponse2024.com/post/update-11-multimedia-release-removal-of-containers-onboard-m-v-dali-commences-at-site-of-key-bridge

I wonder if the steel of the bridge will be immediately sent to a scrap yard to be melted down and recycled, or will investigators keep hold of the remains of the bridge for awhile to further investigate how it collapsed?

My understanding is that truss portions removed so far were barged over to nearby Sparrows Point for scrapping - forget which exact article stated that, but here is the official response which does at least mention "Future disposal".

https://www.keybridgeresponse2024.com/post/update-10-multimedia-release-salvage-operations-continue-at-site-of-key-bridge-incident