#especially since the bridge was the only straight-shot hazmat route

[ramorazinn]

Luckily, this happened at 1:30am, instead of rush hour. 30,000+ vehicles per day travel the Francis Scott Key Bridge. It is (was) 1.6 miles long.

Luckily, the ship that lost power managed to regain enough to IMMEDIATELY contact the Coast Guard, who were able to close the bridge to vehicles.

Luckily, the Port and the City have planned for this for a long time (in case a boat bumped into it, natural disaster, terrorism, whathaveyou) and everyone involved knew their jobs and could (relatively) minimize damage.

Unluckily, the water was 40°F when the construction crew went in.

Unluckily, the tide was so high yesterday that it was over berms in a lot of the upper Chesapeake Bay. People – civilians – are walking the shore. They are taking recreational and hobby-fishing boats out with drag bars. They are trying to find those missing bodies so some little kid doesn't see them first.

Unluckily, a lot of these same people anticipate losing their livelihood (or at least what you and I would call a "side hustle") that relies on the Bay for crab, oysters, fish, whathaveyou, to sell or to feed their families.

Unluckily, there were live power lines down in the water. It's a big body of water – it wouldn't much bother you or me. Other critters? Who knows.

Unluckily, the bridge fell so fast, and was so heavy, that it created a similar effect on the Bay floor to a small earthquake. My cat was upset about it (we live about ten miles away as the crow flies), so I can't imagine how the underwater things reacted.

Unluckily, this bridge – the pieces of this bridge, oil-slick asphalt and metal – will have to be left, for the most part, in the Bay. They will have to dredge under the pieces and let them fall.

Unluckily, we don't know yet what was in the shipping containers that fell into the Bay, or in the ones that were damaged and spilled their contents. The Port has manifests, and they'll get there, but you can imagine what an environmental disaster it could be.

Unluckily, the Port is top-ten in the nation for both tonnage and dollars. (It is also a cruise ship port.) Prepare for a new and exciting price hike as everything jockeys for shipping space.

Unluckily? There is an enormous Amazon Fulfillment Center three miles up the Bay from the Key Bridge, adjacent to Seagirt Marine Terminal, that now cannot receive freight by water. That terminal alone handled over 4000 containers a day. Regardless of your feelings about Amazon, a lot of people depend on those shipments. A lot of jobs depend on those shipments.

But I'm hoping against hope that the last one turns into "luckily," because if there's a company with resources to put into protecting its bottom line, it's Amazon.

I have a fear that the internet is going to try to make light of the Key Bridge collapse in the same way it did with the Ever Given Suez thing. And if that happens I am going to lose my damn mind. This is going to be devastating for Baltimore, a city that absolutely cannot afford to be devastated.