by Bob Butler » Fri Mar 29, 2024 6:33 am
I ran into an analysis of the bridge collapse the other day. Don't know if it will hold up but got me thinking. It turns out that the turning of propellers induce the ship to turn. A normal clockwise turn causes a ship to veer left, while going in reverse causes it to go right. When the power went out, they tried to slow the ship by ordering full reverse. This worked, but caused the course to shift right into the bridge pylon. One possibility in the investigation is that they will determine they should have just drifted at speed, cut power to the engines. The ship would have gone straight without hitting the pylon.
Another twist is that there were no obstructing huge cement barriers in front of the pylon. Some bridges protect supports from being hit by ships. The Francis Key bridge lacked this protection, allowing the collision unhindered. The news people showed images of the Betsy Ross bridge, similar to the Francis Key bridge, which does have the protective barriers. Not cheap by the look of it, but neither will replacing the bridge be.
Another twist is more political. There is a move about by some Republicans for the federal government not to provide funding. It turns out Baltimore is a blue city with a Democratic state governor. The US transportation secretary is minority, and thus the minority affirmative action policies are being held responsible for the loss of the bridge. This is being presented as a change, making disaster relief a partisan issue. A few years ago Milwaukee similarly lost a bridge and the federal government stepped in. Katrina hit New Orleans. Other hurricanes hit elsewhere: Florida, New York, Texas. Maui in Hawaii got hit by a fire. It has been normal for the federal government to significantly help in a disaster regardless of politics. Apparently there is an effort for this to change now, that if a disaster happens in a blue state in an election year it becomes a partisan racist issue. We shall have to see if the old 'disasters are non partisan issues' habit holds.
I ran into an analysis of the bridge collapse the other day. Don't know if it will hold up but got me thinking. It turns out that the turning of propellers induce the ship to turn. A normal clockwise turn causes a ship to veer left, while going in reverse causes it to go right. When the power went out, they tried to slow the ship by ordering full reverse. This worked, but caused the course to shift right into the bridge pylon. One possibility in the investigation is that they will determine they should have just drifted at speed, cut power to the engines. The ship would have gone straight without hitting the pylon.
Another twist is that there were no obstructing huge cement barriers in front of the pylon. Some bridges protect supports from being hit by ships. The Francis Key bridge lacked this protection, allowing the collision unhindered. The news people showed images of the Betsy Ross bridge, similar to the Francis Key bridge, which does have the protective barriers. Not cheap by the look of it, but neither will replacing the bridge be.
Another twist is more political. There is a move about by some Republicans for the federal government not to provide funding. It turns out Baltimore is a blue city with a Democratic state governor. The US transportation secretary is minority, and thus the minority affirmative action policies are being held responsible for the loss of the bridge. This is being presented as a change, making disaster relief a partisan issue. A few years ago Milwaukee similarly lost a bridge and the federal government stepped in. Katrina hit New Orleans. Other hurricanes hit elsewhere: Florida, New York, Texas. Maui in Hawaii got hit by a fire. It has been normal for the federal government to significantly help in a disaster regardless of politics. Apparently there is an effort for this to change now, that if a disaster happens in a blue state in an election year it becomes a partisan racist issue. We shall have to see if the old 'disasters are non partisan issues' habit holds.