Johns Hopkins is set to release the findings of a new study looking at the risks of ships striking bridges in the United States. The announcement of its research on Monday comes after the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently blamed the Maryland Transportation Authority (MTDA)
for not assessing the risk of structural damage to the Key Bridge well before it collapsed and killed six construction workers on March 26, 2024.
NTSB: Key Bridge collapse risk was high
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said the
vulnerability assessment would not have prevented the collapse, but other safety measures could have been put in place to avoid the tragedy. "We conclude in our report that had the MDTA conducted a vulnerability assessment of the Key Bridge based on recent vessel traffic, the MDTA would have been able to proactively identify strategies to reduce the risk of a collapse and loss of lives associated with a vessel collision with the bridge," Homendy said. According to the NTSB, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation issued safety recommendations for the Key Bridge in 1991 and 2009 but those recommendations were never executed. "Had MDTA conducted the assessment based on recent vessel traffic, the MDTA would've been able to reduce the risk of collapse and loss of life," Homendy said. Homendy said the NTSB findings revealed the level of risk for a catastrophic collapse was nearly 30 times higher than acceptable risk levels for the Key Bridge and 15 times higher, specifically for Pier 17, one of the bridge's main pillars that was struck by the cargo ship. The agency released more than 1,000 pages of investigative documents on Thursday including interviews and the bridge factual report. The NTSB says it will release more reports in the coming weeks with the final report expected in the fall.
Needing a vulnerability assessment
The
NTSB told 30 owners of 68 bridges across 19 states to conduct a vulnerability assessment to determine the risk of a bridge collapse from a vessel collision. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Annapolis
was among those bridges listed in the NTSB report that was told to have a vulnerability assessment. The NTSB says the MDTA has yet to conduct a vulnerability assessment and calculation on this bridge, which has similar vessel traffic to the Key Bridge. The NTSB mentioned that their recommendation does not suggest that the 68 bridges are certain to collapse, but rather those bridge owners should evaluate whether the bridges are above the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' acceptable level of risk. The 68 bridges were divided into two categories, "critical/essential" and "typical." Those deemed critical/essential are those that serve as "important links." The Key Bridge had this classification. Those that are not deemed critical/essential fall under the typical designation. "As for the existing bridge, we know that they have not done that," Homendy said. "That vulnerability assessment takes a long time. There's no reason why they shouldn't have done it before now. It shouldn't take an urgent safety recommendation to take action and we expect that to be done now."' The bridges recommended for a vulnerability
assessment are listed here .
What happened to the Key Bridge?
On March 26, 2024, the container ship Dali lost power before crashing into the bridge, killing six construction workers who were knocked into the Patapsco River. The NTSB's initial investigation showed a
series of power failures on Dali as it departed the Port of Baltimore. The report revealed the ship experienced four outages in a span of less than 12 hours which left the ship unable to maneuver and avoid the bridge. The
victims were identified as 35-year-old Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes; 26-year-old Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera; 38-year-old Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandoval; 24-year-old Carlos Hernandez; 49-year-old Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez; and 35-year-old Jose Mynor Lopez.
