It Can Take Years to Repair Bridges After a Collapse
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge wiped out a roadway that tens of thousands of people used to travel to and from Baltimore. An Interstate 35 bridge over […]
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You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge wiped out a roadway that tens of thousands of people used to travel to and from Baltimore.
The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge early on Tuesday wiped out a roadway that tens of thousands of people used to travel to and from Baltimore every day, and it is difficult to say how long it will take to rebuild.
Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland called the reconstruction a “long-term build” at a news conference on Tuesday and said that the authorities were still focused on rescuing people.
The repair time after catastrophic bridge collapses has varied over the past few decades. The episodes are difficult to compare because of differences in the structure of each bridge and the damage, and in the surrounding environment.
One of the deadliest bridge crashes in American history was at the Big Bayou Canot Bridge in Alabama in 1993. A towboat struck a rail bridge on a foggy September morning and threw the train tracks out of alignment.
Minutes later, an Amtrak passenger train derailed as it crossed the water, killing 47 people. The rebuilding efforts began within days.
In 2001, barges struck the Queen Isabella Causeway bridge that connected Port Isabel to South Padre Island in Texas, killing eight people and sending a section of the structure plummeting into a lagoon in the Gulf of Mexico. Much of the bridge remained intact after the collision, and it was repaired and reinforced in about two months.
