Federal officials urge risk assessments for dozens of bridges in 19 states, saying that Maryland’s transport authority failed to carry out such evaluation before the Key Francis Scott bridge collapsed almost a year ago.
Baltimore’s key bridge collapsed on March 26, 2024, after a load ship that passed under the night hit a pillar. The accident killed six construction workers and took three months to eliminate the ship, the Dali, of the water.
The national president of the Transport Security Board, Jennifer Homendy, told journalists the Maryland Transportation Authority, or MDTA, “never ran” the recommended vulnerability evaluation for the bridge.
“If they had executed the calculation on the Key bridge of Francis Scott, the MDTA would have been aware that the bridge was almost 30 times greater than the Aashto risk threshold for essential bridges,” said Homendy, using the acronym for the American road association and state transport roads.
Aashto developed the evaluation in 1991, after the Sunshine Skyway bridge collapsed in Tampa, Florida.
At that time, AASHTO recommended that bridge owners perform risk assessment and warning was reiterated in 2009, according to the NTSB.
The Baltimore bridge was also built before 1994, when new bridges were required to minimize the risk of a catastrophic collapse of a collision, according to the NTSB.
“What is frustrating is that MDTA not only did not carry out the vulnerability evaluation on the key bridge, they did not provide, nor could they provide, the NTSB with the necessary data to perform the evaluation,” said Homendy.
The NTSB said in the report that if the recommended calculations had been made, the State Agency could have been proactive to reduce the danger of the bride’s collapse.
As of October, Maryland’s transport authority has also not carried out the evaluation on the Bay Bay of Chesapeake, Homandy added.
The Maryland transport authority did not immediately respond to a comment request on Thursday.
Maryland’s officials revealed their designs for a new Baltimore bridge last month, which would remain higher than their predecessor. It is estimated that it will cost $ 1.7 billion and the construction ends in 2028.
Federal Security officials identified 68 bridges that still have an unknown level of risk throughout the country, and urge their owners to perform evaluations immediately.
The risk level does not mean that a bridge collapse is imminent, but provides guidance on what should happen to guarantee a safe trip, Homendy warned.
“Frankly, we have been playing the alarm of this since the tragedy occurred … we need action,” said Homandy. “Public security depends on it.”
