The Patapsco River looks different from a year ago today as the river was filled with steel and concrete, the Francis Scott Key bridge collapsed on March 26, 2024, at 1:28 EST due to the Dali Colliding with the bridge. The collapse claimed the lives of six construction workers and injured two more.
The Preliminary report of the collision was released on May 14, 2024, and it gave a brief overview of what happened.
In the report, it stated, “It experienced a loss of electrical power and propulsion and struck the southern pier supporting the central truss spans of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.”
Nearly a year later, it was revealed that the Maryland Transportation Authority would have known the bridge’s risk if an assessment had been done. NTSB Chairwoman Criticized Jennifer Homendy blamed the state of Maryland for failing to do the work that could have prevented the catastrophic collision.
“Had they run 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.”
The NTSB has issued urgent safety recommendations to 30 bridge owners in the United States. 68 Bridges are in need of a review to assess their vulnerability. A report by engineers at Johns Hopkins University revealed that many bridges are at risk of being hit by a vessel. The Key Bridge would have been in the top 10 most vulnerable bridges in the country.
This catastrophic collapse has exposed the need to fix failing infrastructure within the nation as many bridges are at risk.
A year later, the investigation is still ongoing and will be completed around the fall according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
A new bridge will likely be built in 2025 according to Maryland Governor Wes Moore.
The 68 bridges that are at risk can be found here.
