Just Out Of Curiosity – What Does Pete Buttigieg Do For A Living?

Unless you have been in coma for the last few days you know a 1000-foot-long container ship lost power and steering and slammed into the Key Bridge spanning the entrance to Baltimore Harbor. The bridge is down. A major traffic artery is blocked. The entrance to the harbor is closed, and the economic implications are dire. It may take years to reopen the port. Tens of thousands of jobs are on the block, and both importers and exporters are going to have to scramble to figure out how to get things like cars into the country and coal out.

It appears the ship lost propulsion and then lost its emergency backup generator, which would have allowed it to maintain steering. It also appears that the ship had a history of maintenance issues and that it had severe electrical problems before leaving dock. Julie Mitchell, co-administrator of Container Royalty, a company that tracks cargo, told CNN the ship was anchored at the port for at least 48 hours prior to the deadly crash.  During that time period according to Mitchell, there were serious problems with power on the ship. “And those two days, they were having serious power outages… they had a severe electrical problem. It was total power failure, loss of engine power, everything.”

Mitchell explained that refrigerated containers on the ship tripped breakers on several occasions, and mechanics had been trying to fix the issue for an extended period of time.

The ship left dock anyway. Apparently, no one in any government agency was notified of the problems and no special permission was needed to leave port.

Stating the obvious, Mitchell added, 'They shouldn't have let the ship leave port until they got it under control.”

An officer on board the ship had this to say after the accident. 'The vessel went dead, no steering power and no electronics... The smell of burned fuel was everywhere in the engine room and it was pitch black”.

In 2016, the Dali was involved in an accident in the port of Antwerp. It rammed a dock.

Experts are also indicating that the Key Bridge was not designed for impacts from this size of vessel when built almost fifty years ago. They have also made clear, though, that the deficiencies in the bridge’s construction have been well-known for a long time.

Interviewed after the Key Bridge collapse, Andrzej S. Nowak, professor and Elton & Lois G. Huff Eminent Scholar Chair of Auburn’s Department of Civil Engineering, and Matt Yarnold, associate professor and director of Auburn’s Advanced Structural Engineering Laboratory, had this to say to an interviewer.

How could the failure of one bridge support due to a cargo ship strike cause the bridge’s entire collapse?

Nowak: This bridge had a very limited redundancy. There were other catastrophic failures caused by just one weak element (Tampa, Florida and Minneapolis are examples)

Yarnold: The bridge supports (piers) are essential to transfer the load from the superstructure to the foundations. Removing a major support like this creates instability, which results in complete collapse.

What type of design is that of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and is there a better design for newer bridges these days?

Nowak: Cantilever truss. Today, we protect the supports with what is called “dolphins” that serve as bumpers.

Yarnold: This structure is a steel continuous through truss bridge. It is an efficient design in terms of material (common many years ago). Currently, we don’t build bridges in this structural form. The replacement bridge will likely be a cable-stayed or arch bridge.

Is this collapse similar to any other in recent history, and what can be learned from this case and any others from the past?

Nowak: Yes, Tampa, Minneapolis, others.

Yarnold: Yes, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa was a similar collapse due to a ship impact. The Tampa bridge collapse referenced above happened 44 years ago. The Sunshine Skyway Bridge collapsed after being hit by a freighter

 A 1,200-foot section of the road fell into the water below.  Thirty-five people were killed after six cars, a truck, and a Greyhound bus fell over 150 feet into the water.

So, we have had at least 44 years to absorb the lesson of the Tampa disaster and make the necessary changes to protect or replace similar bridges around the country. We have done exactly nothing.

Pete Buttigieg is the Secretary of Transportation. The mission of the Department of Transportation is “To deliver the world’s leading transportation system, serving the American people and economy through the safe, efficient, sustainable, and equitable movement of people and goods.”

Within DOT is something called the Maritime Administration. It has this to say about itself and its mission.

“As the DOT agency responsible for America's waterborne transportation system, the Maritime Administration (MARAD) is busy. At our core, we support the technical aspects of America's maritime transportation infrastructure -- things like ships and shipping, port and vessel operations, national security, environment, and safety. We promote the use of waterborne transportation, and ensure that its infrastructure integrates seamlessly with other methods of transportation.”

DOT also includes the Federal Highway Administration which describes its mission regarding bridges as follows.

“Bridges and structures are key components of the nation's roadway network that provide transportation connectivity to safely cross features such as waterways, railways, roadways, and other obstacles. The FHWA Office of Bridges and Structures provides national policy and technical guidance related to the design, construction, inspection, evaluation, management, and preservation of the nation's inventory of highway bridges, tunnels, culverts, walls, and other ancillary structures. This is done through regulations published in the Code of Federal Regulations and in supporting policy documents such as memos and technical advisories.

The Office of Bridges and Structures provides a technical function to support the safety, stewardship and oversight of over 610,000 highway bridges, more than 500 tunnels, and numerous other structures across the entire USA. Under the Federal-Aid Highway Program, FHWA annually distributes funding of approximately $7 billion to assist transportation agencies plan, design, build, repair, rehabilitate, and inspect such bridges and structures.”

The FY 2024 budget for DOT is over $203 billion.

Yet, somehow in the vast incredibly expensive bureaucracy there is no one who thinks they should be addressing the safety of the thousands of foreign-flagged vessels coming and going from our ports. There is no one who has considered that it might be a good idea to incorporate the lessons learned over forty years ago in Tampa into bridge design and protection. There is not a single soul who has looked at the Key Bridge, the narrow entrance to Baltimore Harbor, and the economic and human impacts that would follow from a large containership striking the bridge and thought “We ought to do something about that before it is too late.”

I understand that Pete Buttigieg is a busy guy. He has to address the racism inherent in America’s highways. Also, he has discovered car accidents are racist, and he has to fix that. And, of course, there is climate change, and he needs to ride around on electric buses to fix that.

I get it. But, still, I am curious. Does anybody know what Pete does for a living because it sure ain’t his job.