Street view from Fort Carol is gone from Google Earth this morning.
There was no extensive guard piling system protecting the support piers at Francis Scott Key bridge. Travel along the intracoastal waterway from Escambia Bay on Santa Rosa Sound to Choctawhatchee Bay and you will find piling guards protecting the piers at each bridge crossing the Sound.“The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.” Albert Bartlett – 1969
The increase in mass of modern shipping compared to that when the Key bridge was designed seems not to have been taken into account at all. Perhaps this event will clarify the depth of vulnerability facing the citizens of the United States within the entire infrastucture. How many years have groups of engineers discussed the deplorable state of our bridges and highway overpass systems?
A nation that imports the majority of it’s fuindamental needs can be brought to it’s knees in a matter of weeks. The flow of goods along our interstate highway system depends on centralized hubs and “just in time” that can be reduced to not in time in hours.The exponential growth of global communication and the total lack of understanding of that reality is certainly an example our greatest shortcoming. Picking a fight when you are outnumbered 7/1 is a clear example of inability to understand the exponential function. Over the horizon, indeed!
