Major bridge collapse in Baltimore

These are the arguments I’ve gotten. Do they make sense to you? Think maybe I need to accept Mayor Pete isn’t up to the job?

 

No, and it’s past time for you to stop paying attention to dingbats.

 

The catch is the buyer must remove these 38x10-foot segments of steel grating at their own expense and using their own resources, which would probably mean a full length lumber trailer.

The grates will be cut up into several hundred pieces ranging from a couple inches long to maybe a foot, then used to make various pieces of art sculpture and wall hangings. These will be sold on eBay and other outlets, at prices ranging from trivial to ridiculous. I got one as a gift, I think it's 8x4 inches, attached to a commemorative plaque; I think it cost $30-40 bucks or something.

Otherwise it would go to the scrap metal mills to be melted down, so what the hell?

The reason the Mackinac Bridge and many others have the metallic grating is a direct result of the Galloping Gertie disaster in 1940 in which the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed. Testing revealed that collapse was the result of aerodynamic lift forces building up beneath the dangerously slim main roadway span causing oscillations which became destructive.

In the years following the Tacoma Narrows collapse, along with WWII and major advances in aerodynamic technology, building road spans with open grating sections allowing wind to pass through without generating lift, became a popular technique to prevent reoccurrences of the collapse. When Mackinac was designed in 1952-53, it was state of the art technology.

Now, whether one of its towers could withstand a direct hit from a heavily loaded container ship .... uhhh, I dunno. I wouldn't be confident.

The Golden Gate Bridge (and several other major bridges such as Verrazano) I believe has concrete barrier islands built around the main tower foundations as precaution against an impact by a large ship, but whether that would be enough, I dunno.

 

Why do think it’s the Secretary of Transportation’s job to see things like a bridge strike coming?
Nobody could have seen this coming.

 

Can anyone name Obama's Transportation Sec'y? Or W's?

Just so hard to figure why Pete comes in for so much criticism...

 

The Cut River Inn always had good pasties.

I know we’ve had a thread on the Mighty Mac, but if you think you can feel it move when you drive across, try the bridge walk on Labor Day. Definitely a lot of swaying going on, but the great views and unique experience are worth it!

 

It's his haircut. Yes. That's it.

 

Says hi.

 

LaHood and Chao were the last two. Don’t ask me why I know this.

 

If you don’t want a crop of moldy potatoes, quit fertilizing the field