3-20-2025 11:20pm

MARYLAND FAILED

Jeff Barto Editor

Maryland failed to assess the vulnerability of its Francis Scott Key Bridge long before it collapsed

(AP)BALTIMORE — The Maryland Transportation Authority failed to complete a recommended vulnerability assessment that would have shown the Francis Scott Key Bridge was at significant risk of collapse from a ship strike long before its demise last year, according to federal investigators.

The bridge collapsed after a massive cargo ship, the Dali, lost power and veered off course, striking one of its support piers. Six construction workers were killed.

Maryland leaders could have done more to prevent the deadly disaster, National Transportation Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said during a media briefing Thursday afternoon.

The board update comes almost a year after the bridge collapse, which temporarily halted ship traffic through the Port of Baltimore and snarled traffic across the region. Plans to rebuild the bridge are underway and officials have said the new design will be much better protected.

When board investigators performed the vulnerability assessment for Baltimore’s Key Bridge, they found it was almost 30 times worse than the acceptable risk threshold, according to guidance established by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. The group published the vulnerability assessment calculation in 1991, and all bridges designed afterward were required to be evaluated. In 2009, the group reiterated its recommendation to also conduct assessments for older bridges.

Had Maryland officials completed the assessment at any time since then, they “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.

She said as of October, they still hadn’t assessed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge even after the Key Bridge collapse.