‘Sickening that Republicans are now blaming Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill for this bridge accident. The sheer gall and naked opportunism and idiocy,’ epidemiologist says
Republicans are facing criticism for attempting to blame the Baltimore Bridge collapse on President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed on Tuesday after a cargo ship crashed into it. Six construction workers are presumed dead.
South Carolina Representative Nancy Maceappeared on the rightwing channel Newsmax on Tuesday when she was asked why there are still old bridges and roads in the US after the passing of legislation to upgrade them.
But do you have any proof that Biden wasn’t the one who crashed the ship?
Oh on a serious note I don’t know the exact design specifics for this bridge but often they are designed to take some impact. But the Francis Scott key bridge was designed in the 70s when container ships were much smaller. The ship that hit it was finished in 2015. It is a Neo-Panamax and about 3 times larger than ships of the 70s.
Yeah, you’d struggle to design a foundation that could take a hit like that, it would be something like a 20m diameter cofferdam full of concrete. The ship that hit it was about 100,000DWT so the impact load will be something like 300MN.
The bridge did have some small dolphins / navigation guides in front of the piers but they were likely designed for a very small impact load from a small vessel losing control.