A question about the Key Bridge.....

The recent collapse of the Key /Bay bridge in Baltimore,Maryland is certainly a tragedy,but I do wonder:why not forget about rebuilding the bridge,and instead build an underground traffic tunnel through the Bay?Wouldn't it be compartively cheaper,easier to build and safer ?

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MrBrownstone · 46-50, M

You could not transport hazardous materials in a tunnel.

DavidT8899 · 22-25, M

@MrBrownstone Why not?

MrBrownstone · 46-50, M

@DavidT8899 In the event of a crash it will be impossible for people to get out.

DavidT8899 · 22-25, M

@MrBrownstone I don't understand.Just go towards the exits.

redredred · M

@DavidT8899 More importantly one couldn’t get emergency equipment into a constrained environment like a tunnel

DavidT8899 · 22-25, M

@redredred Why not?The tunnel has an entrance and an exit right?Cars would move aside to make way for the equipment.Why would it be any different than it would be on a bridge?

redredred · M

So a truck hauling 8000 gallons of premium gasoline collides with a propane tanker in a four lane tunnel. I’m behind one of the trucks when hell-on-earth erupts and both trucks empty their loads into a conflagration. Your helpful suggestion is I drive around this fireball and we wait until everyone behind me does too so the fire trucks can get to the blaze, by which time the structure of the tunnel is so weakened that the Chesapeake bay begins to enter the tunnel.

That might put the fire out but that’s not really a solution. @DavidT8899

DavidT8899 · 22-25, M

@redredred I see your point,but could such a situation occur just as easily on a bridge?

redredred · M

@DavidT8899 sure but the bridge has wide open space all around. Fire boats could contain the fire from below, helicopters could rescue people from above, it’s an altogether better situation than a narrow underground tube

DavidT8899 · 22-25, M

@redredred I see.Prehaps another solution would be to construct a comparatively smaller,Hazmat -only bridge,and then an underground tunnel for commuter traffic.

redredred · M

@DavidT8899 that’s essentially what they did but there was no reason to build a small bridge.