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64-593: The Sewickley Bridge is a steel continuous truss bridge spanning the Ohio River between Sewickley and Moon Township, Pennsylvania , carrying State Route 4025 and the Orange Belt . It was built by American Bridge Company and opened on October 21, 1981. The current bridge is the second bridge to occupy the site; the original Sewickley Bridge opened on September 19, 1911, after twenty-six months of construction. Using lattice-beam cantilever truss design,

128-510: A transit mixer . On April 30, the Maryland State Police announced that they had identified "areas of interest" where the bodies of the two remaining missing victims could be. These areas had been inaccessible to recovery crews, before April 13. On May 1, a fifth body, belonging to Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez, 49, of Glen Burnie , was recovered from a red truck that had been among the missing construction vehicles. On May 7,

192-483: A "complete blackout" and began to drift out of the shipping channel; a backup generator supported electrical systems but did not provide power to the propulsion system . At 1:27   a.m., a mayday call was made from the ship, notifying the Maryland Department of Transportation that the crew had lost propulsion and control of the vessel and that a collision with the bridge was possible. One of

256-619: A continuous truss. For example, the northern approach to the Golden Gate Bridge was initially constructed as a series of five simple truss spans. In 2001, a seismic retrofit project connected the five spans into a single continuous truss bridge. Continuous truss bridges started to be constructed in Europe during the second half of the 19th century. Although the advantages of continuous bridges were known, three main engineering challenges slowed their widespread adoption: However, it

320-428: A crew member when working on the diesel engine scrubber system prevented exhaust gas from flowing out of the ship stacks caused the engine to stall ; the second outage occurred when insufficient fuel pressure caused the ship's backup generator to shut off—which led the crew to modify the ship's electrical configuration by switching from a transformer and breaker system that had been in use for several months to

384-553: A different system on the accident voyage. However, the report did not draw a connection between the in-port outages and the voyage outages, and stated that the NTSB's investigation of the electrical configuration was ongoing. The report also stated that fuel testing found no evidence of contamination. In testimony before the House Transportation Committee on May 15, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy stated that

448-815: A fuel-pressure gauge was repaired, and the second in September by the U.S. Coast Guard in New York, which found no problems. In March 2024 , Dali was crewed by 20 Indian nationals and one Sri Lankan. The ship traveled from Panama to New York, arriving on March 19, then sailed to the Virginia International Gateway in Portsmouth, Virginia . The ship left Virginia on March 22 and the following day arrived in Baltimore, where it underwent engine maintenance. An anonymous source told

512-730: A helicopter as part of rescue efforts. Fifty public safety divers in eight teams were dispatched to search for people who fell into the river. This timeline is based mostly on the National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary analysis of events from the ship's voyage data recorder and the Maryland Transportation Authority Police log. The force of the impact with the pier was estimated to be between 27 and 52 million pounds-force (120 and 230 MN) by The New York Times writers, who used equations from

576-464: A new route for diverted Baltimore imports arriving at the Port of New York and New Jersey ; the railroad completed its first shipments of diverted cargo three days later. On April 3, Norfolk Southern announced its own dedicated service to haul diverted imports from New York to Baltimore. While economists said the port closure was unlikely to reduce U.S. economic growth, Dun & Bradstreet estimated

640-521: A provision to establish a state scholarship for the children of the maintenance workers killed in the collapse. On April 8, the General Assembly passed a bill to draw upon the state's rainy day fund to pay port employees who were thrown out of work and are not covered by state unemployment insurance ; the governor may also use the fund to help some small businesses avoid layoffs and to encourage companies that shift to other ports to return to

704-452: A red pickup truck 25 feet (7.6 m) below the mid-section of the bridge. On April 5, the body of a 38-year-old Honduran national was recovered from a submerged vehicle. On April 14, another body was recovered from a submerged construction vehicle. The family of the victim requested the identity of the deceased be withheld. By that point, the underwater searches had found five submerged vehicles, including three passenger vehicles and

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768-422: A reopened Baltimore port. Governor Moore signed the bill the following day. On April 12, Moore issued an executive order under the law to start a $ 12.5 million program operated by the Maryland Department of Labor to prevent layoffs by port businesses. On June 14, multiple state agencies announced that they would stop accepting applications for the temporary worker and business assistance programs implemented by

832-436: Is delivered to diversion ports. Maersk, however, announced that it would arrange transport for cargo from diversion ports to its clients. Stellantis and General Motors said they would divert vehicle imports to other ports, and Toyota reported that some of its exports could be affected. The bridge collapse also isolated the terminals of Mercedes-Benz , CSX at Curtis Bay, and Consol Energy . On April 1, CSX announced

896-570: Is near the old Sewickley train station between Route 65 and the river, near the north end of the current bridge; the third spire is at Station Square in Pittsburgh . The fourth is on display across the river in Coraopolis . The location of the bridge is 40°31′59″N 80°11′16″W  /  40.53306°N 80.18778°W  / 40.53306; -80.18778 (40.5331234°, -80.1878365°), at an elevation of 692 feet (211 m). During

960-639: The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials publication Guide Specifications and Commentary for Vessel Collision Design of Highway Bridges . In comparison, Saturn V rockets generated 7.9 million pounds-force (35 MN) of thrust at launch. The bridge's continuous truss relied on its overall structure to maintain integrity; in engineering terms, it was fracture critical , meaning it had no redundancy against removal of support of any particular part of it. The collision destroyed its southwest main truss pier, causing

1024-500: The Associated Press that an alarm on the ship's refrigerated containers went off while the ship was docked, likely due to an inconsistent power supply. When the bridge was completed in 1977, the largest container ships could hold 2,000 to 3,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers. In the 2000s, the governments of Maryland and Baltimore, which relied on port operations to replace lost manufacturing jobs , seized

1088-636: The Francis Scott Key Bridge across the Patapsco River in the Baltimore metropolitan area of Maryland , United States, collapsed after the container ship Dali struck one of its piers . Six members of a maintenance crew working on the roadway were killed, while two more were rescued from the river. The collapse blocked most shipping to and from the Port of Baltimore for 11 weeks. Maryland Governor Wes Moore called

1152-811: The I-35W Mississippi River bridge collapse in 2007. In 2018, the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure noted that ships frequently hit bridges but rarely destroy them; between 1960 and 2015, thousands of barges and ships collided with U.S. bridges, destroying 18 of them. Federal regulations require national highway bridges to conform to standards established by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials , but AASHTO did not specify how strong bridges should be to withstand ship collisions until 1994. Federal regulations for bridge protection systems from ship collisions were updated in 1991 after

1216-549: The Maryland Port Administration sent personnel to Baltimore to help in investigations. The MPA said it offered support to the NTSB and the Office of Marine Safety. NTSB personnel boarded the ship late on March 26 and obtained the voyage data recorder (VDR), which would help investigators develop a timeline of events leading up to the collision. Several possible factors were being considered, including

1280-748: The Sunshine Skyway Bridge collapse in 1980, but existing bridges were exempted by a grandfather clause , and the Francis Scott Key Bridge piers lacked the level of fender system or island barriers required of newer bridges. However, engineering experts debate whether such bridge protection systems could have prevented the collapse given Dali ' s size. The preliminary National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report noted that inspections conducted in March 2021 and May 2023 to National Bridge Inspection Standards found

1344-481: The 1970s and 1980s, the length and frequency of the bridge's closures caused economic hardship for multiple businesses in Coraopolis , Edgeworth , Moon Township , and Sewickley. Hegner's Hardware Store reported a revenue loss of twelve to fifteen percent in 1977 while the owner of one Burger King Restaurant in Edgeworth reported a loss of twenty-five percent, or roughly $ 10,000 per month, that same year. In addition,

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1408-469: The 56 containers that carried about 764 tons of hazardous materials: primarily corrosives , flammable substances (including lithium batteries ), and Class 9 materials . NOAA reported a water temperature of 47 °F (8 °C) at the time of the collapse. Two people were rescued from the river: one was in "very serious" condition and the other uninjured. One of those rescued was a Mexican national . The lawyer of one survivor said his client, who

1472-544: The FBI investigation is looking for potential violations of the Seaman's Manslaughter Statute , which can carry up to a 10-year prison sentence for ship officers, crew, ship owners, and charterers when violations result in deaths. The preliminary NTSB report was released on May 14. The report stated that the ship had two power outages in port: the first occurred 10 hours before departure when an engine damper mistakenly closed by

1536-647: The Port of Baltimore was unaffected: the Tradepoint Atlantic marine terminal at Sparrows Point , on the seaward side of the Key Bridge. Tradepoint Atlantic said on April 3 that it began preparing for an influx of redirected ships and estimated that it would unload and process 10,000 vehicles over the next 15 days. Maryland governor Wes Moore declared a state of emergency shortly thereafter, and Maryland Secretary of Transportation Paul Wiedefeld ordered

1600-590: The Seas was diverted to Norfolk, where its 2,200 passengers boarded buses for Baltimore. Governor Moore said that 8,000 jobs could be affected by the bridge's collapse and called the disaster a "global crisis". The waterway's closure is causing an estimated daily loss of $ 15 million. On March 30, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that it would make low-interest and long-term loans of up to $ 2 million to small businesses hurt by

1664-606: The Sparrows Point terminal, closing them to shipping. This led shipping lines to seek alternate ports for ships en route to Baltimore and forced shippers to attempt to arrange for land transportation from those ports before unloaded cargoes would incur detention and demurrage charges—i.e., late fees. Four shipping lines— CMA CGM , then COSCO and Evergreen on March 26, and Mediterranean Shipping Company on March 28—declared force majeure , allowing them to terminate their contracts of carriage with clients once cargo

1728-655: The United States and third-longest in the world . Opened in 1977, the 1.6-mile (2.6 km; 1.4 nmi) bridge ran northeast from Hawkins Point, Baltimore , to Sollers Point in Dundalk in Baltimore County, Maryland . Before being damaged, it carried Interstate 695 , a beltway around Baltimore; its four lanes (two in each direction ) were used by some 34,000 vehicles each day, including 3,000 trucks, many of which hauled hazardous materials barred from

1792-414: The assistance of Dali shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries , and comparing the bridge's design and pier protection to current regulatory standards. On April 15, FBI agents searched Dali in a criminal investigation to establish whether the crew left the port aware that the ship had problems with its electrical or mechanical systems. On May 8, anonymous sources told The Wall Street Journal that

1856-427: The boat, including providing them with Wi-Fi hotspots . The NTSB began an investigation and sent a team to the site. The agency was expected to release a preliminary report two to four weeks after the collapse, and later issue urgent safety recommendations, while its investigation could take between 12 and 24 months. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was also deployed to the scene, but said that terrorism

1920-494: The bridge collapse does not appear to show one present. The company declined to respond to press inquiries about whether a boat was available. Dali ' s crew and the two pilots sustained no serious injuries. One crew member was slightly injured and required some stitches. Groups such as the Baltimore International Seafarers' Center made efforts to support the crew members as they remained on

1984-710: The bridge collapse in the Mid-Atlantic states , and the SBA received 500 applications by April 4. In the Maryland General Assembly , Bill Ferguson , the president of the Maryland Senate , and state delegate Luke Clippinger introduced emergency legislation to provide money to workers and local businesses affected by the disaster. After discussions with the Moore administration, Ferguson added

Sewickley Bridge - Misplaced Pages Continue

2048-413: The bridge in satisfactory condition. Dali left the Port of Baltimore at 12:44   a.m. EDT (04:44 UTC ) on March 26, 2024, bound for Colombo , Sri Lanka. The ship had two local harbor pilots on board. Following standard operating procedure in Baltimore, tugboats that piloted the ship from its berth were released once the ship was in the channel. At 1:24   a.m., the ship suffered

2112-632: The bridge was built by the Fort Pitt Bridge Works, and was officially named the Ohio River Bridge No. 1. The current bridge's center span is 750 feet (230 m) long; the side spans are each 375 feet (114 m) long. The bridge deck contains two vehicle lanes and a pedestrian sidewalk. It crosses 73 feet (22 m) above the river. It is owned by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation . By

2176-567: The bridge's piers. After the bridge collapsed in 2024, anonymous former agency officials told The Washington Post that the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) did not consider studying the possibility of a collision with a larger ship, and instead spent decades studying how terrorists might attack the bridge after the September 11 attacks or inspecting for structural flaws similar to those that caused

2240-437: The central truss arch span, at roughly 8 knots (9.2 mph; 15 km/h). AIS data showed the ship traveling at a speed of 8.7 knots (10.0 mph; 16.1 km/h) at 1:25   a.m. before departing the channel and slowing to 6.8 knots (7.8 mph; 12.6 km/h) by the time of the collision two minutes later. Within seconds of the collision, the bridge broke apart in several places, leaving sections protruding from

2304-826: The channel were reopened by the end of the month. I-695 remains closed between the MD 173 and MD 157 interchanges. Most traffic is detoured along I-95 and I-895 , which cross Baltimore Harbor in tunnels. Vehicles that are carrying hazardous loads or are too tall for the tunnels are detoured along the western section of I-695, bypassing from the north and west the entire city of Baltimore. Warnings of traffic delays were initially issued to motorists as far away as Virginia . Cruise ships originally bound for Baltimore docked in other cities. For example, Carnival Legend docked in Norfolk, Virginia , on March 31 and seventy buses took passengers back to Maryland. On April 4, Vision of

2368-429: The collision. Two fell into the water, neither of which carried hazardous substances. Dali sustained hull damage above the water line and the ship was impaled by remnants of the bridge superstructure (estimated to be 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes of bridge wreckage), which pressed it against the channel floor. The ship remained watertight, and the shipping company initially claimed there was no water pollution directly from

2432-496: The development of computer-aided engineering , continuous truss bridges have become more common. Some notable continuous truss bridges, with main span lengths. Most of those listed are in North America; for a more comprehensive worldwide list, see [1] : Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse On March 26, 2024, at 1:28   a.m. EDT (05:28 UTC ), the main spans and the three nearest northeast approach spans of

2496-402: The event a "global crisis" that had affected more than 8,000 jobs. The economic impact of the closure of the waterway has been estimated at $ 15 million per day. Maryland officials have said they plan to replace the bridge by fall 2028 at an estimated cost of $ 1.7 billion to $ 1.9 billion. The Francis Scott Key Bridge was a steel arch-shaped continuous truss bridge , the second-longest in

2560-771: The health and lives of residents who were experiencing acute bleeding or coronary emergencies and in need of rapid medical treatment at the Sewickley Valley Hospital were put at higher risk due to longer travel times for emergency vehicles. The bridge closures also significantly lengthened travel time to and from the Greater Pittsburgh International Airport for area residents and visitors. Continuous truss bridge Although some continuous truss bridges resemble cantilever bridges and may be constructed using cantilever techniques, there are essential differences between

2624-476: The in-port power outages and voyage outages were "mechanically distinct" and that switching circuit breakers after an outage is a common practice, but that changing the electrical configuration may have resulted in the voyage outages. On September 12, the NTSB released a 41-page report detailing tests completed on the Dali in the weeks after the collapse; it said investigators had found a loose electrical cable in

Sewickley Bridge - Misplaced Pages Continue

2688-475: The late 1970s, the bridge had deteriorated badly. The bridge was closed for emergency repairs from January 30 to May 20, 1977, and also from January 11 to March 2, 1979. A replacement bridge was ordered; the design was completed in late 1979. The old Sewickley Bridge closed again on May 14, 1980, and was demolished in July of that year. To reduce construction costs, the piers from the original bridge were reused for

2752-462: The leading port for automobiles and light trucks for 13 straight years, handling more than 847,000 vehicles in 2023. It employed 15,000 people and indirectly supported 140,000 others, annually helping to generate $ 3.3 billion in wages and salaries, $ 2.6 billion in business revenue, and $ 400 million in state and local tax revenue. MV Dali is a container ship registered in Singapore , and at

2816-422: The new bridge. This meant that the old bridge had to be completely demolished before the new bridge could be built. The central 350-foot (110 m) suspended span was lowered onto barges and floated away, while the rest of the bridge was dismantled piece by piece to maintain balance of the cantilever arms. The crossing was closed for a total of seventeen months before the new bridge opened. The new bridge mimicked

2880-410: The old bridge's shape and scale, although it used box members instead of lattice beams and was of a continuous truss design instead of a cantilever-and-suspended-span design. The original bridge was capped by four decorative finial spires; these were saved and put on public display. One sits in a park in downtown Sewickley, along with the keystone-shaped builder's plaque from the original bridge. Another

2944-472: The opportunity provided by the Panama Canal's expansion : they installed new cranes and dredged the harbor to accommodate the up-to-14,000-TEU vessels that began passing through the canal in 2016. At the time of its collision, Dali was loaded nearly to its 10,000-TEU capacity with 4,700 forty-foot containers. In 1980, a ship roughly one-third the size of Dali struck and lightly damaged one of

3008-483: The pilots requested that traffic be stopped from crossing the bridge immediately. The ship's lights went out and came on again some moments later, then again went off and returned just before impact as smoke once again began rising from the funnel . At the pilot's request, the MDTA Police dispatch asked officers to stop traffic in both directions at 1:27:53   a.m.; outer loop (eastbound/northbound) traffic

3072-403: The possibility that contaminated fuel or an improper grade of fuel had caused the loss of the ship's power. At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on April 10, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the agency would not likely issue its preliminary report until the first week of May. She said investigators were gathering data about the ship's electrical system, examining its circuit breakers with

3136-433: The ship. Authorities installed 2,400 feet (730 m) of water containment booms around the ship after a sheen was detected in the waterway, which was believed to have been produced by 21 US gallons (17 imp gal; 79 L) of oil that leaked from a bow thruster on the ship. On March 27, the NTSB announced an investigation into a hazmat spill resulting from breached containers aboard Dali, including some of

3200-401: The sixth and final body, belonging to José Mynor López, 37, of Baltimore, was recovered. Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations require that construction companies keep skiffs available at construction sites over waterways. Coast Guard officials said they did not know whether the company that employed the highway workers had one available. Satellite imagery at the time of

3264-486: The south and central spans to collapse, which led to the collapse of a northern span. Each failure sequence took seconds, and within 30 seconds the entirety of the trussed spans, and three others, had fallen. The bridge was determined to be fully compliant with the building code when it collapsed. The bridge had dolphin and fender protection against ship impact, but these protections were insufficient. Of Dali ' s 4,700 shipping containers, 13 were damaged in

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3328-428: The structure for stability. Severing a continuous truss mid-span endangers the structure, as exemplified by the collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge in March 2024. However, continuous truss bridges do not experience the tipping forces that a cantilever bridge must resist because the main span of a continuous truss bridge is supported at both ends. It is possible to convert a series of simple truss spans into

3392-604: The suspension of all shipping to and from the Port of Baltimore until further notice; trucking facilities remained operational. At 4:15   a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration imposed a 5-nautical-mile (5.8 mi; 9.3 km) temporary flight restriction around the incident site. Maersk, which chartered the vessel, saw the price of its shares decline by about 2% when trading opened at Nasdaq Copenhagen on March 26. The collapse blocked access to all of Baltimore's marine terminals except

3456-445: The time of the collapse. A resident living near the bridge recalled being awakened by deep rumbling that shook his residence for several seconds following the collapse, which he said "felt like an earthquake ". Emergency teams began receiving 911 calls at 1:30   a.m. The Baltimore Police Department was alerted to the collapse at 1:35   a.m. Large rescue and recovery efforts were begun. The Coast Guard deployed boats and

3520-701: The time of the collision (in maritime terms, allision ) was operated by Synergy Marine Group and owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd, both based in Singapore. A Neopanamax vessel completed in 2015, Dali has a length of 980 feet (300 m), a 157-foot (48 m) beam , and a 40-foot (12.2 m) draft . Danish shipping company Maersk chartered Dali upon its delivery. Once in service, Dali had undergone 27 inspections at ports globally, including two in 2023: one in June in San Antonio, Chile , where

3584-493: The transformer and breaker system that could have caused electrical problems. On September 21, FBI agents in Baltimore boarded the Maersk Saltro , a ship owned by Synergy Marine Group, the owner of the Dali . The debris from the collapse blocked maritime access to virtually the entirety of the Port of Baltimore; nearly 30 ships had signaled the port as their destination, and more than 40 were trapped. Only one part of

3648-418: The two forms. Cantilever bridges need not connect rigidly mid-span, as the cantilever arms are self-supporting. Although some cantilever bridges appear continuous due to decorative trusswork at the joints, these bridges will remain standing if the connections between the cantilevers are broken or the suspended span (if any) is removed. Conversely, continuous truss bridges rely on rigid truss connections throughout

3712-590: The two harbor tunnels. The bridge crossed one of the busiest shipping routes in the United States: the lower Patapsco River , which connects the Port of Baltimore to the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean . In 2023, the port handled more than 444,000 passengers and 52.3 million tons of foreign cargo valued at $ 80 billion. It was the second-largest U.S. port for coal , and had been

3776-406: The water and the roadway's approaches cut off. The main span fell onto the ship's bow and a section of it came to rest there. The bridge strike and partial collapse were recorded on video. Multiple vehicles were on the bridge at the time it collapsed, though initially no one was believed to be inside them. Workers were repairing potholes on the bridge and were in their vehicles on a break at

3840-447: The weekly cost of the supply chain disruptions caused by the port closure to be $ 1.7 billion. On March 28, New York governor Kathy Hochul and New Jersey governor Phil Murphy offered the use of ports in their states in handling affected cargo shipments to minimize supply chain disruptions. On May 7, Maersk North America's president said the company would decide within five to 10 days whether to restart operations in Baltimore if

3904-422: Was in his car as the bridge collapsed, escaped by manually rolling down his window. Six people, all part of the maintenance crew working on the bridge, were reported missing and presumed dead after a Coast Guard search was suspended. Their bodies were all recovered, from underwater, by May 7. On March 27, the bodies of a 35-year-old Mexican national and a 26-year-old Guatemalan national were found inside

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3968-483: Was not suspected in the incident. On March 27, a Unified Command Joint Information Center was established to coordinate the investigation and salvage. The command includes members from primary stakeholders , including the U.S. Coast Guard, Maryland Department of the Environment , MDTA, Maryland State Police, and Synergy Marine. As the flag state , Singapore's Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) and

4032-816: Was possible to avoid these issues to a certain extent through careful design. The early European bridges were usually lattice trusses with three to five spans. An example was the Boyne Viaduct , built in 1855 in Drogheda , Ireland . The first continuous truss bridge in North America was the Lachine Bridge in Montreal , built in 1888, followed by the Sciotoville Bridge in 1916 and the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad Bridge in 1918. Since

4096-408: Was stopped at the south side after 20 seconds, while inner loop (westbound/southbound) traffic was stopped at the north side by 1:28:58   a.m., around the time of the collapse. The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) reported that the ship dropped anchor before hitting the bridge, as part of its emergency procedures. At 1:28:45   a.m., the ship struck the southwest pier of

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