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Originally Posted by LT. Ox
It does seem that traffic would be stopped for an unknown period of time across both structures.
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100% agreed. Given the fact that Benicia and Martinez are going to be hot for a while, I think it might be safe to say that there will be no traffic across the Benicia-Martinez Bridge for a long time. Also, the road network feeding onto the bridge is going to be in very poor condition on either side of the bridge.
Vallejo probably is destroyed by a firestorm. I-80 runs down the eastern side of the city, which is the side nearest Benicia. I’m not an engineer, either, so I can’t predict how the fires will affect the surface of the highway given its separation from the nearest combustible structures. There are some unknowns involved. For instance, if the attack occurs at rush hour, there’s going to be a lot more fuel on the road than if the attack occurs at 2:15am. On the other hand, at night one will have more tractor trailers on the road. Some of these tractor trailers will be tanker trucks hauling highly flammable liquids. A 20-ton tank of burning petrochemicals is not good for the road surface. It’s not hard to see one direction or the other being completely blocked by damage to the road wherever this occurs. If we’re very unlucky, a fire like this occurs side-by-side on either side of the highway. Or an overpass is so damaged that it becomes unusable. Also, I-80 runs through San Pablo and Richmond on the south side of the bridge. This is another case of a relatively intact bridge with heavily impacted roads on either side.
I agree, too, that no one is going across the Richmond Bridge anytime soon. Even if the bridge stays up, Richmond is going to be completely destroyed. Burning tanks of fuel will melt the roadway at the eastern end of the bridge and probably damage the concrete. There is no convenient bypass that won’t also have been severely affected by the destruction of Richmond.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LT. Ox
My other thoughts are just what needs to go up or down that part of the bay after the strikes?
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I imagine the primary products moving through San Pablo Bay and Carquinez Strait are food and security services, in that order. Once the relocation effort gets underway, there probably will be a flurry of human traffic upriver to provide labor in the Delta and in the Central Valley. Barge traffic will assume an even greater importance, given its energy efficiency. Thus the amount of radiation one is exposed to in the Strait becomes pretty important.
I notice that for a 500kt explosion, the 500 rem ring reaches near to the shore for all three explosions. I don’t know how this translates into rads on the ground in January 1998. It would be good to know more about how much, if any, radiation is going to affect someone in the shipping lane passing through the eastern end of the Strait. I imagine the Navy is going to be quite keen to measure that right away.