Mathews Bridge Breaking News

[If_I_Loved_you]

Guys, guys, it's fine! Everyone can just take the 20th St Bridge!

Oh.... wait.

JU killed that years ago.

[If_I_Loved_you]

Raw video: Jacksonville's Mathews Bridge hit by ship

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/topstories/article/329432/566/Raw-video-Mathews-Bridge-hit-by-ship

[coredumped]

Wow.  Well if Arlington weren't deteriorating rapidly enough before...

Arlington is deteriorating?
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2012-dec-jacksonvilles-densest-neighborhoods
Do people forget that Arlington is more than just Regency? It also include million dollar homes on the water. Sure it has it's problems (like every neighborhood in jax) but no place is perfect.

Back on topic, JSO needs to update the lights to favor the heavy traffic. All they need to do is look at google maps.

[KenFSU]

At least now we have an answer to "How could the Jags season possibly get worse?"

[FSBA]

At least now we have an answer to "How could the Jags season possibly get worse?"

Hush. At this rate one of the cruise ships could run into the Dames Point.

[Overstreet]

All those height figures are variable when you consider that the river rises and falls. Tides although predicted often don't follow the predictions and can be higher or lower and at different times than publized. Rain water also affects the river level independent from tide. It is a dynamic system, bridge clearance.

The ship was also empty and in the shipyard.  Empty of cargo............what about fuel and water?. ......or other structures?   all would cause it to ride higher.

At least the bridge is still standing.  Could have been really bad.

[thelakelander]

According to Action News, the bridge could be closed for months...

The UNF associate professor says an inspection could take days. Repairs to the complex cantilever truss structure could take months.

"It is a sophisticated process of reviewing the design, going through the inspections very thoroughly and then coming up with a very good detailed repair plan. A repair itself is not going to be easy," he said.

Depending on what the inspection reveals, the entire section of the bridge may need to be cut out and replaced.

Engineers say they hope it's not the nail in the coffin for the bridge.

"To replace it, we will need hundreds of millions of dollars to replace such a bridge because it's very costly," El Safty said.

full article: http://www.actionnewsjax.com/content/topstories/story/Local-engineer-says-bridge-fix-could-take-months/bzRtiOlCkkm2XO8lS5_gKw.cspx

[coredumped]

I'd be fine with cutting our losses on the bridge and building a new one. It's going to have to happen anyways.

[Josh]

The second I read that there was severe visible damage I laughed at the reports of the bridge "not likely to be reopened in time for rush house." When that first picture came out, you could tell this is going to take months to repair. Not to mention it's going to take time for the city to put this out to the lowest bidder.....

[cline]

The second I read that there was severe visible damage I laughed at the reports of the bridge "not likely to be reopened in time for rush house." When that first picture came out, you could tell this is going to take months to repair. Not to mention it's going to take time for the city to put this out to the lowest bidder.....

Technically it would be FDOT putting it out to the lowest bidder.  Hopefully they won't use the same contractor that is replacing the bridge on Riverside Ave at Willow Branch.

[If_I_Loved_you]

The second I read that there was severe visible damage I laughed at the reports of the bridge "not likely to be reopened in time for rush house." When that first picture came out, you could tell this is going to take months to repair. Not to mention it's going to take time for the city to put this out to the lowest bidder.....

( Not to mention it's going to take time for the city to put this out to the lowest bidder.....) So is this a joke?

[ChriswUfGator]

This and the hart bridge were built during an era when our regional government was deliberately trying to kill off the waterfront downtown as part of a so-called redevelopment. I believe Stephen found articles from back in the day where folks were saying the bridge clearances were too low for ships even back at the time the bridges were built, let alone now that ships have grown larger. The dames point poses a similar problem, they designed it with clearances sufficient for cargo ships but not for cruise ships, which has hampered efforts to attract that industry. I think moving forward you're either going to have to build new ones with higher clearances, or let the remaining waterfront industries die off or relocate. Most already did move to the Blount island area after the Matthews was built.

Of course none of that excuses whoever was responsible in this instance for not judging the clearance properly. It doesn't really matter whether the ship was unladen, they all have the distance to the keel painted on the hull for this reason, you just add the number of feet showing above the waterline to the clearance height, it's not rocket science.

[thelakelander]

Didn't North Florida Shipyards just get a federal grant to expand? I believe they may be one of downtown's largest employers.

[Bridges]

Didn't the Bridge receive a failing grade recently? 

Just looked, I guess not failing but in need of repairs

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2013-jan-dangerous-bridges-in-jacksonville

2010 Inspection

Status: Open, no restriction [A]
Average daily traffic: 67,500 [as of 2008]
Truck traffic: 2% of total traffic
Deck condition: Fair [5 out of 9]
Superstructure condition: Fair [5 out of 9]
Substructure condition: Satisfactory [6 out of 9]
Channel protection: Bank is beginning to slump. River control devices and embankment protection have widespread minor damage. There is minor stream bed movement evident. Debris is restricting the channel slightly. [6]
Pier/abutment protection: In place and functioning [2]
Scour condition: Bridge is scour critical; bridge foundations determined to be unstable. [3]
Operating rating: 36.0 tons [32.7 metric tons]
Inventory rating: 27.6 tons [25.1 metric tons]
Evaluation: Functionally obsolete [2]
Sufficiency rating: 43.6
Recommended work: Other structural work, including hydraulic replacements. [38]
Estimated cost of work: $4,093,000

[blizz01]

Not a good day for bridges yesterday:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/26/us/wisconsin-bridge-sagging/?hpt=hp_t2