Maryland officials failed to assess vulnerability of Francis Scott Key Bridge before collapse, NTSB says
Source: NBC News
March 20, 2025, 6:49 PM EDT
Federal officials are urging risk assessments for dozens of bridges across 19 states, saying that the Maryland Transportation Authority failed to perform such an evaluation before the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed nearly a year ago. Baltimore’s Key Bridge fell apart on March 26, 2024, after a cargo ship passing underneath in the night struck a pillar.
The accident killed six construction workers and it took three months to remove the ship, the Dali, from the water. National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told reporters the Maryland Transportation Authority, or MDTA, "never ran" the recommended vulnerability assessment for the bridge.
"Had they ran the calculation on the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the MDTA would have been aware that the bridge was almost 30 times greater than the risk threshold AASHTO sets for essential bridges," Homendy said, using the acronym for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. AASHTO developed the assessment in 1991, after the Sunshine Skyway Bridge collapsed in Tampa, Florida.
At the time, AASHTO recommended that bridge owners run the risk assessment and the warning was reiterated in 2009, according to the NTSB. Baltimore's bridge was also built before the 1994, when new bridges were required to be constructed to minimize the risk of a catastrophic collapse from a collision, according to the NTSB.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/maryland-officials-failed-assess-vulnerability-francis-scott-key-bridg-rcna197390
Heard a report on the CBS affiliate news radio station here this morning regarding "bridges" - apparently the NTSB put something out about other bridges too, including the set we have here in Philly going over the Delaware River (all but one being old - with two closing in on a century old). One of the points of the Infrastructure Act under Biden WAS to get roads and bridges taken care of and the GOP wants to dismantle that whole thing. So even "assessing" would be for naught if federal funding isn't going to be forthcoming to fix it because the GOP wants that money to give to the billionaires.
= new reply since forum marked as read
