The National Traffic Safety Board (NTSB) sounded an alarm at a press conference Thursday, warning 30 owners of 68 bridges in 19 states to conduct a vulnerability assessment to determine the risk of the bridge collapse due to being attacked by a vessel.
The NTSB also cited the lack of ratings that Maryland officials may have prevented the fatal collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge.
The 984-foot Singapore-style cargo ship Dali left Baltimore Port on March 26, 2024, experiencing loss of power and propulsion, struck the south pier supporting the central truss range at Francis Scott Key Bridge on the Patapsco River.
The bridge collapsed, killing six construction crews and wounding two others.
The cargo ship Dali is stuck in part of the Francis Scott Key Bridge structure after the ship crossed the bridge on March 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, file)
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NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said Thursday that the main bridge is almost 30 times the “acceptable risk threshold” for important or essential bridges, according to guidance from the US State Highway Association and the Department of Transportation (AASHTO).
While it is not certain that unappreciated bridges will collapse, the NTSB would have known that if the Maryland Transportation Department (MDTA) had conducted vulnerability assessments on key bridges based on recent vessel traffic, the MDTA would have been aware that the main bridges were beyond the risk of acceptance and that they had information to reduce the information to declare the bridge collapse and risk of collapse.
“Frankly, we've been warning this ever since the tragedy happened,” Homendy said. “We need to take action. Public safety depends on it.”
In this aerial view, a steel truss from the destroyed Francis Scott Key Bridge secured a container ship Dali on the Patapsco River in Baltimore on May 13, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Last year, NTSB identified 68 bridges designed before AASHTO guidance was established that did not have current vulnerability assessments.
The NTSB recommends that 30 bridge owners assess whether the bridge exceeds acceptable levels of risk, and if so, develop and implement a comprehensive risk reduction plan.
In response to an NTSB investigation into the collapse of Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida, Aashto developed and published a vulnerability assessment calculation for a new bridge in the National Highway System in 1991.
The explosive fee explodes to defeat a section of Francis Scott Key Bridge, which fell on May 13, 2024 in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
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At the time, Aashto recommended that all bridge owners conduct vulnerability assessments on existing bridges to “assess the risk of catastrophic collapse in the event of a vessel collision.”
Decades later, in 2009, Aashto repeated the recommendation again.
Since 1994, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has said, “Given the size, speed and other characteristics of the vessel navigating the waterways under the bridge, new bridges had to be designed to minimize the risk of catastrophic bridge collapse from a vessel crash.
The remains of the Francis Scott Key Bridge are on the Container Ship Dali when you take an aerial tour of the collapsed bridge in Baltimore on April 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Barthsenate)
Homedy added that the NTSB is recommending that the FHWA, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers establish “interdisciplinary teams” to provide guidance and support to bridge owners in risk assessment and reduction.
Reducing risk could mean improvements to infrastructure or operational changes, according to the NTSB.
The NTSB will also release more than 1,000 pages of research material to Public Docket on Thursday.
This 3D image shows the remains of the Francis Scott Key Bridge at the bottom of the Patapsco River. (U.S. Navy Navy Systems Command Salvage and Diving Supervisor)
Next week, the NTSB will release factual reports of hazardous materials, weather and survival factors, and research conducted by the Engineering Office on safety risks associated with increasing vessel size.
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Voyage Data Recorder audio transcripts and related data will follow, leading to NTSB's release of the final report. This can occur in the fall.
MDTA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Fox News Digital on Thursday afternoon.
