It will rise again…

The picture shows a flat expanse of the water, tinted a deep Prussian blue from the reflection of a clear sky scattered with thin cirrus clouds. The skyline of the city can be spotted in the background, to the left of the center of the image. Just to the right of the center some of the shipping terminals and their towering cranes. Also in the background several boats and ships ply the calm looking deep blue waters. Moving closer to the viewer’s perspective are a pair pylons jutting up out of the water that support a high voltage power line that spans the river. The scene is framed as if seen from a drone or other aircraft, flying a few hundred feet above the water. There is another, similar photo, this one apparently taken from a lower viewpoint, perhaps what one would see from a boat or a ship. The city skyline is directly in the focal point of this one, and the sky is crystal blue and the bright sun high overhead, creating stark shadows. In both photos, the view is looking towards the north, with the west side of the river to the left and the east to the right. These images look to be a combination of real photographs with computer generated imagery added in, presenting a fairly realistic scene.

But the main focus here isn’t how the pictures are laid out, or how well (or poorly) done the graphics may be, nor necessarily all that is depicted (or not shown) within them. No, that isn’t it. In both renderings it is what dominates the scene, the thing that rises high above the waters, its two massive towers framing Baltimore beneath the center of its span. As of this morning, buried in a long winded and very overwrought press conference, the apparent preliminary design of the Key Bridge 2.0 was announced and shown. I skimmed thru the 45 minute recording of that to try and gather the most pertinent sound bites. Apparently this rendering was created by some of Igor’s minions at Dr. Frankenstein’s lab in the Nebraska based castle, so it is quite likely this is what the monster will eventually look like. That said, this monstrous 230 foot tall clone of the Talmadge Memorial Bridge pictured in the images will one day rise up from the depths of the Patapsco River. There is also an animation that was shown along with the stills, depicting the future monster towering over its now destroyed predecessor. This emphasizes just how fearsome of a metal and concrete structure this new bridge will be. The animation also shows how it will look at night, in darkness, with its towers and cables reflected upon the surface of the water. So now we have some idea of how Baltimore’s new river monster will appear.

The two renderings: