New York’s George Washington Bridge and Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge are vulnerable to the same catastrophic collapse of the domino effect that brought down Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, a new analysis warns.
Officials had previously discovered that the Key Bridge was designed in such a way that if one of the span’s steel components failed, the entire structure could fail.
In fact, the entire 2.6-mile-long bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River last week when Dali’s giant container ship struck one of its vertical supports.
At least 17,000 structures in the United States are “fail-safe” like the Key Bridge, including the nation’s largest and most famous bridges. The Wall Street Journal reported, citing information from the Nation Transportation Safety Board..
The Journal highlighted eight bridges with similar characteristics to the Key Bridge, including two New York landmarks.
Also on the list are the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, and Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Like the Key Bridges, they are a major connection between Baltimore and the greater Washington, DC area.
According to the NTSB, a “failure-hazard” design does not compromise the safety of these bridges, but it does mean there is a lack of redundancy in the load-bearing design.
“People were surprised that the other side of the bridge had fallen,” Charles Carter, an engineer and president of the American Steel Construction Association, told the Journal.
“Unfortunately it was unavoidable because they all cooperated.”
However, unlike the Key Bridge, New York’s George Washington Bridge and Verrazano-Narrows Bridge are suspension bridges with support towers located much closer to shore, making them less likely to collide with an out-of-control cargo ship .
New York City officials said last week that 14 bridges across five boroughs were being closely monitored and appropriate precautions were taken to avoid a tragedy in Baltimore, where six construction workers were estimated to have died. He assured the people that there would be.
Bridges that are “at risk of failure” are specifically required to have their inspection records flagged and undergo special inspections for their steel components, sometimes as frequently as every year, the WSJ reports. That’s what it means.
The NTSB’s inspection of the Key Bridge collapse is ongoing and a preliminary report is expected in the coming weeks. Officials say a full report on the incident could take up to two years.
The bridge had previously passed inspection, and officials said no other bridge in the United States was designed to withstand a direct hit from a 95,000-ton container ship like the Dali.
