Francis Scott Key Bridge thread 2.0

[Beltway]

Maybe we should disregard this thread, at least until we stop doing what got the original thread locked in the first place. An alternative would be to make this thread dormant until construction on the replacement bridge begins.

So April, perhaps? Demolition has been going on since July, and is expected to take nine months.

They are not using "CD" they are using manual demolition.

[NE2]

Cautious Dolphin would probably be a smarter way to demolish it.

[PColumbus73]

Francis Scott Key Bridge 3.0: Dolphin with a Vengeance

"Key Bridge 3.0:  Flipper's Revenge"

I'm reserving the name for thread five:
 
Dolphin Wars - Episode 5: The Key Bridge Strikes Back

Dolphin Wars - Episode 6: Return of the Beltway

[Beltway]

Francis Scott Key Bridge 3.0: Dolphin with a Vengeance

"Key Bridge 3.0:  Flipper's Revenge"

I'm reserving the name for thread five:
Dolphin Wars - Episode 5: The Key Bridge Strikes Back

Dolphin Wars - Episode 6: Return of the Beltway

Flipper has jumped every shark between Norfolk and Bermuda.

The only thing left to jump is the funding chasm.

[Max Rockatansky]

Francis Scott Key Bridge 3.0: Dolphin with a Vengeance

"Key Bridge 3.0:  Flipper's Revenge"

I'm reserving the name for thread five:
 
Dolphin Wars - Episode 5: The Key Bridge Strikes Back

Dolphin Wars - Episode 6: Return of the Beltway

Resident Dolphin 7: Bridgehazard

[PColumbus73]

Francis Scott Key Bridge 3.0: Dolphin with a Vengeance

"Key Bridge 3.0:  Flipper's Revenge"

I'm reserving the name for thread five:
 
Dolphin Wars - Episode 5: The Key Bridge Strikes Back

Dolphin Wars - Episode 6: Return of the Beltway

Resident Dolphin 7: Bridgehazard

Tuesday the 26th: Dali Takes the Dolphin

[Max Rockatansky]

Francis Scott Key Bridge 3.0: Dolphin with a Vengeance

"Key Bridge 3.0:  Flipper's Revenge"

I'm reserving the name for thread five:
 
Dolphin Wars - Episode 5: The Key Bridge Strikes Back

Dolphin Wars - Episode 6: Return of the Beltway

Resident Dolphin 7: Bridgehazard

Tuesday the 26th: Dali Takes the Dolphin

I know we need a ninth entry but I'm calling Dali vs Key Bridge as the title for thread ten. 

I think that I have something for thread nine:

- The Legend of Dolphin: Bridge Waker

[Henry]

Francis Scott Key Bridge 3.0: Dolphin with a Vengeance

"Key Bridge 3.0:  Flipper's Revenge"

I'm reserving the name for thread five:
 
Dolphin Wars - Episode 5: The Key Bridge Strikes Back

Dolphin Wars - Episode 6: Return of the Beltway

Resident Dolphin 7: Bridgehazard

Tuesday the 26th: Dali Takes the Dolphin

I know we need a ninth entry but I'm calling Dali vs Key Bridge as the title for thread ten. 

I think that I have something for thread nine:

- The Legend of Dolphin: Bridge Waker

Channel 11: FSK Rises Again

(couldn't resist, as that's meant as a callback to their top-rated TV station)

[Beltway]

OMIGOD!!! Do any civil engineers work for MDTA???

This system is PUNY even compared to the Sunshine Skyway system (look at photos online) that was designed 40 years ago for ships 1/10 the size of today's Panamax ships! And when there was far less ship traffic.

The bow overhang alone would reach the pier. Then what happens of the hull hits solid concrete and rips open -- especially if it is carrying gasoline or similar cargo?

Just posted on the project website today.

[Max Rockatansky]

Francis Scott Key Bridge 3.0: Dolphin with a Vengeance

"Key Bridge 3.0:  Flipper's Revenge"

I'm reserving the name for thread five:
 
Dolphin Wars - Episode 5: The Key Bridge Strikes Back

Dolphin Wars - Episode 6: Return of the Beltway

Resident Dolphin 7: Bridgehazard

Tuesday the 26th: Dali Takes the Dolphin

I know we need a ninth entry but I'm calling Dali vs Key Bridge as the title for thread ten. 

I think that I have something for thread nine:

- The Legend of Dolphin: Bridge Waker

Channel 11: FSK Rises Again

(couldn't resist, as that's meant as a callback to their top-rated TV station)

Final Dolphin 12: Revenant Bridges

[PColumbus73]

Francis Scott Key Bridge 3.0: Dolphin with a Vengeance

"Key Bridge 3.0:  Flipper's Revenge"

I'm reserving the name for thread five:
 
Dolphin Wars - Episode 5: The Key Bridge Strikes Back

Dolphin Wars - Episode 6: Return of the Beltway

Resident Dolphin 7: Bridgehazard

Tuesday the 26th: Dali Takes the Dolphin

I know we need a ninth entry but I'm calling Dali vs Key Bridge as the title for thread ten. 

I think that I have something for thread nine:

- The Legend of Dolphin: Bridge Waker

Channel 11: FSK Rises Again

(couldn't resist, as that's meant as a callback to their top-rated TV station)

Final Dolphin 12: Revenant Bridges

Baltimore Before Dali XIII: The Wisdom of Dolphins

[Beltway]

One project page poster said:
Don't think you need to protect against floating football fields. How about comparing them to an ocean-going cargo ship?

I replied:
With all due respect, floating football fields are far more hazardous to navigation than most people would even realize!

[jeffandnicole]

OMIGOD!!! Do any civil engineers work for MDTA???

This system is PUNY even compared to the Sunshine Skyway system (look at photos online) that was designed 40 years ago for ships 1/10 the size of today's Panamax ships! And when there was far less ship traffic.

The bow overhang alone would reach the pier. Then what happens of the hull hits solid concrete and rips open -- especially if it is carrying gasoline or similar cargo?

Just posted on the project website today.

So you're stalking the website daily just looking for stuff to debate about?

[Beltway]

FWIW this topic seems to be highly charged and contentious in all corners of internet.  When Dan ran two drone photos posts on the Key Bridge site on our Facebook account it got about 7,000 combined reactions.  I did more moderating for those two posts than the entirety of everything else we have posted since 2016.

This is a rather interesting and insightful comment. And from a poster who has been unserious and disruptive here ever since I showed up in this thread.

Perhaps a separate thread is needed to discuss what I would call "emotional infrastructure" regarding this collapse and aftermath. This is unlike anything I have seen in following highway issues and projects since the 1960s.

The intensity and controversy is at the level of the "freeway battles" that occurred in some cities, anti-freeway groups versus the agencies and officials that planned them.

Many bridges have collapsed in the past but this one is an order of magnitude more severe than the others. Even I-35W was small in comparison, only one reasonable alternative, built in 11 months, at about double the normal $100 million FHWA ER allocation.

The collapse of the Key Bridge represents more than a structural failure; it has become a defining civic event. What makes this moment distinct is not only the scale of disruption to transportation and commerce, but the intensity of public reaction. As Max noted, even simple drone photos triggered thousands of reactions and required unprecedented moderation. That level of engagement points to what might be called emotional infrastructure: the way communities process the sudden loss of a vital artery, attaching symbolic weight far beyond the technical details of steel and concrete.

In following highway projects since the 1960s, I have rarely seen intensity at this level outside of the "freeway battles," where anti‑freeway groups clashed with planners and officials. But those were protracted political struggles over future projects. The Key Bridge collapse is different -- a sudden, catastrophic failure of existing infrastructure. The freeway fights were about preventing construction; this is about coping with loss.

So far, our group has not acknowledged or discussed this dimension. It may be time to open a separate thread devoted to emotional infrastructure, so we can examine how civic identity, public reaction, and symbolic resonance shape the discourse around this collapse.

Here is my work so far --
Key Bridge Collapse: Emotional Infrastructure
http://www.roadstothefuture.com/Key-Bridge-Emotional-Infrastructure.html

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^

One might argue I shot ourselves in the foot with moderation.  Facebook runs an engagement model and seemingly doesn't give fuck all what content comprises it. 

Francis Scott Key Bridge 3.0: Dolphin with a Vengeance

"Key Bridge 3.0:  Flipper's Revenge"

I'm reserving the name for thread five:
 
Dolphin Wars - Episode 5: The Key Bridge Strikes Back

Dolphin Wars - Episode 6: Return of the Beltway

Resident Dolphin 7: Bridgehazard

Tuesday the 26th: Dali Takes the Dolphin

I know we need a ninth entry but I'm calling Dali vs Key Bridge as the title for thread ten. 

I think that I have something for thread nine:

- The Legend of Dolphin: Bridge Waker

Channel 11: FSK Rises Again

(couldn't resist, as that's meant as a callback to their top-rated TV station)

Final Dolphin 12: Revenant Bridges

Baltimore Before Dali XIII: The Wisdom of Dolphins

We need something to riff the fifteenth entry of the MCU.  Guardians of the Key Bridge Volume 2 ought to work.

[Beltway]

OMIGOD!!! Do any civil engineers work for MDTA???
This system is PUNY even compared to the Sunshine Skyway system (look at photos online) that was designed 40 years ago for ships 1/10 the size of today's Panamax ships! And when there was far less ship traffic.
The bow overhang alone would reach the pier. Then what happens of the hull hits solid concrete and rips open -- especially if it is carrying gasoline or similar cargo?
Just posted on the project website today.

So you're stalking the website daily just looking for stuff to debate about?

It popped up on my Facebook feed. Unless I block it their posts will appear there.

[GaryV]

The bow overhang alone would reach the pier.

Virtually all ocean-going ships have a bulbous front below the waterline, so there effectively is no overhang.

https://logisticselearning.com/vessel-ship-profiles/

[Beltway]

The bow overhang alone would reach the pier.

Virtually all ocean-going ships have a bulbous front below the waterline, so there effectively is no overhang.
https://logisticselearning.com/vessel-ship-profiles/

Bow overhang is not just forward but lateral.

Besides, at 12 knots head on into a fixed object there will be considerable crushing of the forward part of the ship.

[Beltway]

I may no longer need to use this thread -- it can be for project specific news

[NE2]

New conspiracy theory just dropped. The Dali was hijacked by the Dali Museum in St Petersburg to bring a piece of Florida to Maryland.

[Max Rockatansky]

I think it was Salvador Dali.  He didn't die in 1989, and knocking down the Key Bridge was his master plan.

[GaryV]

Nah, Salvador Dali would have melted it, not crashed it.

[The Ghostbuster]

Two of the threads are now locked. Let's hope third time is not the charm (as in, not forcing the administrators to lock this thread too).

[Max Rockatansky]

Two of the threads are now locked. Let's hope third time is not the charm (as in, not forcing the administrators to lock this thread too).

The power to stop or exercise self control lies in the hands of one particular person. 

Me personally, at this point I'd welcome locking this up again until we get actual fresh news.

[The Ghostbuster]

I can't argue with that.