Unfortunately, bridges and roads fail or are damaged due to several causes, such as wear and tear, natural or artificial disasters, or accidents and crashes.
On 26 March 2024, at 1:30 AM, a container ship collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, collapsing a portion of the bridge. The collapse threw construction workers into the cold waters below; two were rescued, and six of them were presumed dead.
Experts believe the size of the cargo ship that rammed into the Baltimore bridge could have collapsed any bridge; even a new bridge could not have withstood the impact from a direct hit of a massive cargo ship, but calls for improved warning systems to give time for people and motorists to evacuate and stop traffic in the event of an out of control ship (Jackman, 2024).
Economic Impact of the Baltimore Bridge Collapse
According to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), suspending Baltimore port operations has serious economic consequences. As a major national and international freight hub, the port handled more than 444,000 passengers and 52.3 million tons of foreign cargo valued at $80 billion, including 750,000 automobiles, in 2023. Therefore, reopening the shipping passage has become an urgent priority for the Biden Administration (Recovery Work, 2024).
State of the US Infrastructure
US bridges have been deteriorating for decades, with almost half being at least 50 years old. The number of structurally deficient bridges has continued to decline in recent years.
The latest assessment from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave the US Bridges a grade of C. They estimated that the need for bridge repair is $125 billion, and infrastructure spending needs to increase from $14 billion annually to $27 billion to improve the bridge’s conditions. Otherwise, the need for repairs in the next 50 years will become overwhelming.
The Infrastructure Bill passed under the Biden-Harris administration in November 2021 is the largest infrastructure spending in US history. It would allow the country to catch up with repairs and address critical deterioration concerns for high-risk bridges, roads, and other key infrastructures.
The article in The Conversation, written by US Transportation engineer Lee D. Han, discusses the impacts of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge and how planners, transit agencies, and city governments anticipate and manage these disruptions.
According to Han, agencies prepare two types of planning: long-term and short-term. Long-term planning includes planning transportation infrastructure that considers and anticipates economic and population trends. Short-term planning covers how government authorities and planners would ensure mobility and safety during service disruptions caused, for example, by accidents or major events.
Agencies develop a detouring plan in case of a major bridge collapse or failure. In the case of the collapse of the Baltimore Bridge, two tunnels that pass under the harbor will reroute critical bridge traffic. However, trucks carrying hazardous materials will take a longer detour.
The Infrastructure Bill has allocated $80 million to improve capacity, travel times, and safety along the I-895/Baltimore Harbor Tunnel in Baltimore, Maryland, which could help alleviate the traffic disruption caused by the Baltimore Bridge collapse.
According to Han, rerouting traffic poses several challenges. When a bridge fails, traffic stops and begins to flow elsewhere, making road redundancies essential as they provide alternative routes. Urban areas usually offer parallel routes, but a major bridge closure for rural areas could delay travel for several hours or even days.
Rerouting traffic off the interstate highways or main highways also causes problems to local streets that are not designed to handle them and end up getting damaged or causing problems for local drivers, who may have to be directed to take other routes.
Local streets suddenly servicing large trucks could experience increases in delays, pollution, safety risks, and transportation costs that will eventually be passed on to consumers.
Successful reroutes also include much coordination with multiple agencies, including driving apps to direct motorists and commuters to the best routes and adjustment of road signals.
Public transport in urban areas can help alleviate traffic delays and inconvenience caused by a roadway or bridge failure. Fixed-route rail services usually have the exclusive right of way, which can help commuters quickly get from point A to B, especially if their origins and destinations are conveniently close to transit stations. With bus transit, although some may have a different right of way, they could have flexibility in extending their services to areas beyond their usual reach.
Fixing the Baltimore Bridge
Stuff reports that President Biden pledged that the federal government would pay to repair the bridge, which state officials said carried more than 30,000 vehicles daily.
The complete reconstruction of the bridge is estimated to be between US$3 and US$4 billion.
“I’m directing my team to move heaven and earth to reopen the port and rebuild the bridge as soon as humanly possible,” Biden said (Jackman, 2024).
Benjamin W. Schafer, a professor of civil and systems engineering at Johns Hopkins University, said removing debris and reopening the channel could take months. The Bridge, built in 1970, took five years to build.
However, experts believe the bridge’s repair now will take half that period, and the promised federal funding is crucial to speed things up.
From an Infrastructure Asset Management point of view, the Baltimore Bridge accident reinforces the need for asset-owning authorities to have both long-term infrastructure management planning and short-term incident planning in place.
Source:
Han, L. (2024, March 27). Disasters like bridge collapses put transportation agencies’ emergency plans to the test. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/disasters-like-bridge-collapses-put-transportation-agencies-emergency-plans-to-the-test-207779
Recovery Work on Collapsed Baltimore Bridge Begins. (2024, March 29). AASHTO. Retrieved from https://aashtojournal.transportation.org/recovery-work-on-collapsed-baltimore-bridge-begins/
Overview of Bridges. (2024). 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. Retrieved from https://infrastructurereportcard.org/cat-item/bridges-infrastructure/
Jackman, R. (2024, March 29). Rebuilding Baltimore’s Key Bridge will likely take years, experts say. Stuff. Retrieved from https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/350230008/rebuilding-baltimores-key-bridge-will-likely-take-years-experts-say
Drake, J. (2024, February 21).Congress: Fix Permitting to Help Americans Benefit from Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved from https://www.uschamber.com/infrastructure/congress-fix-permitting-to-help-americans-benefit-from-bipartisan-infrastructure-law
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