March 21 (UPI) — The Maryland Transportation Authority failed to perform a proper safety evaluation prior to the fatal collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore nearly a year ago, officials announced Thursday.
Federal authorities are urging an assessment of dozens of bridges across the country as a result of the findings.
The Dali cargo ship was passing under the bridge at night when it struck a pillar on March 26, 2024.
The vessel — which had lost power several times, rendering the captain incapable of controlling it — wandered aimlessly for several minutes before it slammed into the bridge, causing one of the worst maritime disasters in recent U.S. history.
Six construction workers died in the incident, which also snarled shipping traffic in the Patapsco River in Baltimore during the three-month wreckage excavation project.
“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,” National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told reporters Thursday, referring to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
Homendy was citing a report on the Key Bridge incident issued by the National Transportation SAfety Board.
Based on those standards, which were developed after the 1991 collapse of the Sunshine Bridge in Florida, Homendy said there are dozens of other bridges that are at structural risk, and need to be inspected.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge was constructed before 1994 when officials mandated that bridges meet certain safety criteria to minimize the risk of collapse in the event of structural damage.
“What’s frustrating is that not only did MDTA fail to conduct the vulnerability assessment on the Key Bridge, they did not provide — nor were they able to provide — the NTSB with the data needed to conduct the assessment,” Homendy added.
Maryland transportation officials have announced plans for a replacement bridge over the Patapsco River, which is estimated to cost at least $1.7 billion and projected to reach twice as high as the Key Bridge.
