Dam roads

Would you close them? When 9/11 hit, Sacramento county got antsy and closed down the road over Folsom dam and eventually commissioned a bridge to be constructed right in front of the dam.

Same thing happened with Hoover Dam in Nevada

Is it just me, or am I the only one who thinks this is a colossal waste of money and time? Officially it was closed because the city was worried traffic over the dam might weaken it, but everyone knows they're scared of terrorists "Bombing" it.

I personally don't know how a terrorist might try to destroy a reinforced concrete superstructure. They seem to like coffee shops more anyways.

My other signature is a Gundam.

Coffee shops are also easier to hit.

Dams typically have lots of security and monitoring, making them difficult to waltz in and bomb - although driving a giant tractor-trailer rig over one and detonating it would work, I'd think - the trick would be to get the truck past the checkpoints and stuff, and that's a lot of explosives to risk losing on getting caught.

Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.

You'd be surprised at what the proper application of explosives on a central point can do. Dams aren't made to take several rockets and RPG's to one point, or if it was someone who could get down into the lower levels where all the important stuff is. A suicide vest going off in the control center of a dam would be pretty disastrous.

I know that's a physical security issue, but just sayin.

I don't think it's wholly stupid, at least. There is a risk, and the potential death toll could be very high for some dams, as could the economic cost. That's already a better argument than most of the stupid things done for "security" after 9/11. It's possible the cost/benefit analysis would show it as not worth it compared to other risks, though.

A brighter future for a darker age.

Actually closing the road however, does nothing to prevent that though.

It's like schools that got paranoid after Colombine and decided to install metal detectors and ban trenchcoats. It's a false sense of security.

My other signature is a Gundam.

^ YES. But they must appease the masses because... well, I'm a bit fuzzy on that part, actually.

Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.

^Votes

My troper wall

^^ Because people act like scared sheep when theyre in a group, so you have to appease them constantly to make them think they ARENT living in a world where the goverment is just winging it as they go along.

Closing the road means you can't fill a dump truck full of explosives and explode it in the middle. It's only one way of attacking, but it's the big dumb one.

A brighter future for a darker age.

Big rigs weren't going over it before. But ours is a small dam, I can't speak for the likes of Hoover.

Regardless, I don't think a fence and a few concrete barriers will stop one.

edited 22nd Feb '11 5:32:54 PM by CommandoDude

My other signature is a Gundam.

Large enough barriers will seriously wreck a tractor-trailer combination. They crash-test them on occasion.

Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.

Generally while power plants and dams are appealing targets from a theoretical standpoint. Practically they are not actually really viable targets. It takes too much effort to do that sort of thing from the ground. Stuff that succeeds against these sort of targets would have succeeded pretty much regardless.

Plus, physical on site security is crap at actually preventing anything. Go go investigation.

FWIW, I believe the Hoover Dam bridge project had more to do with traffic capacity concerns than anything else. If I remember, it's an integral part of an expansion to US 93.

Link to the project site.

Please spay/neuter your pets. Also, defang your copperheads.

The bridge over Hoover Dam had more to do with traffic backups and accidents than security - it was being debated when I was in high school, well before 9/11. Security is an added bonus. Having driven it, the road down to the dam, and across it, were horrible  ^*

^{except in the late evening when my wife-then-girlfriend and I would drive out there to make out}

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Yeah, what he said.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw

It's more likely that they just used the 9/11 security thing as a way to get federal funds for it, then.

A brighter future for a darker age.