By Gabe Cohen | CNN
Washington — Sixty-eight bridges throughout the US ought to be assessed to see if they’re prone to collapse if hit by a ship, transportation security officers discovered, whereas urging the bridges’ homeowners to undertake instant vulnerability assessments. The 4 pressing security suggestions are a part of the Nationwide Transportation Security Board’s ongoing investigation into the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore final 12 months.
Within the early hours of March 26, 2024, the container ship Dali misplaced energy after leaving the Port of Baltimore and struck a pillar of the Key Bridge, inflicting it to break down, killing six building staff who fell into the Patapsco River. The Dali suffered a pair of catastrophic electrical failures minutes earlier than the crash, in line with a preliminary report launched by the NTSB final Might.
The Key Bridge was above the appropriate stage of danger primarily based on steering established by the American Affiliation of State Freeway and Transportation Officers, or AASHTO, NTSB officers stated. However the proprietor of the bridge by no means evaluated that danger.
“The Maryland Transportation Authority never ran the calculation on the Key Bridge,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy advised reporters Thursday. “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 critical, essential bridges.”
The NTSB recognized 68 different bridges in 19 states spanning waterways frequented by cargo ships that, just like the Key Bridge, had been constructed earlier than 1991 and don’t have a present vulnerability evaluation. Homeowners of the bridges which have increased than acceptable danger rankings ought to create a plan to scale back that danger, Thursday’s findings say.
The Golden Gate Bridge, Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, Carquinez Bridge, Benicia-Martinez Bridge within the Bay Space; Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, George Washington and Verrazzano-Narrows bridges in New York Metropolis; the Walt Whitman and Benjamin Franklin bridges in Pennsylvania; the Sunshine Skyway in Florida and the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan all made the listing.
(NTSB)
“A risk level above the acceptable threshold doesn’t mean a collapse from a vessel collision is an absolute certainty,” Homendy stated. “What we are telling bridge owners is that they need to know the risk and determine what actions they need to take to ensure safety.”
The NTSB can be urging the Federal Freeway Administration, the US Coast Guard and the US Military Corps of Engineers to ascertain a crew to supply steering and help to bridge homeowners on evaluating and lowering the danger of a collapse from a vessel collision.
Investigations into bridge collapse proceed practically a 12 months later
Eight of the 21 Dali crew members, together with the ship’s highest-ranking officers, stay in Baltimore practically a 12 months after the tragic incident, pending the findings of federal and native investigations.
Whereas not one of the crew members have been charged in reference to the catastrophe, investigators are nonetheless working to find out who could be accountable, and it’s unclear when the remaining crew will get to go away.
CNN beforehand reported that the FBI and Coast Guard are trying into whether or not the ship’s crew didn’t report the in-port energy outage as a part of a legal investigation, in line with a US official accustomed to the matter.
In October, the ship’s Singaporean proprietor, Grace Ocean Personal Restricted, and supervisor, Synergy Marine PTE LTD, reached a settlement with the US Justice Division agreeing to pay practically $102 million to resolve a civil declare alleging that the businesses’ cost-cutting and negligence within the ship’s upkeep led to the disastrous collision.
Justice Division prosecutors had alleged that the “tragedy was entirely avoidable,” pointing to alleged failures within the ship’s infrastructure.
In a courtroom submitting, prosecutors wrote that as an alternative of fixing longstanding issues with their electrical transformer, the businesses “jury-rigged their ship” with makeshift braces that repeatedly broke. And when these electrical transformers broke the night time of the bridge collapse, a backup transformer ought to have restored energy “within just a few seconds” however that security function had been “recklessly disabled,” they alleged.
The town of Baltimore has filed its personal declare in opposition to the 2 firms, and the households of a number of of the victims have additionally stated they intend to sue.
The Dali returned to service earlier this 12 months after in depth repairs to the ship had been accomplished.
CNN’s Aaron Cooper contributed to this report.
Initially Printed: March 21, 2025 at 8:09 AM PDT
