One year later The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimorean independent government agency urged owners of seven California bridges, including the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, to urgently assess their risk of a catastrophic collapse.
On March 18 Reportthe National Transportation Safety Commission determined that a total of 68 bridges across the United States were based on recent vulnerability assessments conducted by ship traffic. It said the bridge “the risk of ship collision collapse is unknown.”
The report, part of the ongoing investigation The owner of the bridge said that the owners of the bridge (all built on navigable waterways that marine vessels often descended) “will probably not be aware of the risk of catastrophic collapse of their bridges due to ship collisions and potentially need to implement countermeasures to reduce the vulnerability of the bridge.”
Some owners of the California Bridge told the Times that the assessment had been underway after the Baltimore Bridge collapsed.
The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation Zone said in a statement that it “fully complies with all state and federal regulations, including federal bridge inspection and evaluation requirements,” and the iconic bridge has “one of the most powerful ship collision protection systems for any bridge on the West Coast.”
The region notes that, it hired a consultant earlier this year to evaluate the bridge’s south tower fender system’s ship collision structural capabilities.
“The results of the study will be submitted to the Federal Highway Administration,” the district said.
Bay Area Toll Administration spokesman John Goodwin, who manages all toll revenues for toll bridges in the area, owned and operated by Caltrans, told The Times that his agency began last July with Caltrans and other groups to evaluate ship traffic throughout the Gulf, including seven waterways already in seven states, including seven waterways already in place.
“I think it’s wise for us to assess the vulnerability of all bridges,” Goodwin said. “The risk of collapse is small, but not zero. There is no wrong sense of security there…”
In the Bay Area, most of the seven California bridges identified as potentially vulnerable are: Richmond-Shan Raphael Bridge, Caquenes Bridge, Benicia Martinez Bridge, Antioch Bridge and San Mateo Hayward Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge. The only thing in Southern California is the Coronado Bridge in San Diego.
Caltrans, which owns Coronado Bridge, said the agency is reviewing the report’s recommendations.
“All state-owned bridges have been regularly inspected to ensure strict structural safety and have been transformed into the highest national standards,” a Caltrans spokesman told CBS 8 In the statement. “Caltrans is reviewing the recommendations of the National Transportation Safety Commission and responding to its requests once the review is completed.”
The NTSB urges owners of seven California bridges to conduct risk assessments based on guidance established by the National Highway Association and the Association of Transportation Officials (AASHTO) 30 years ago.
If the bridge owner determines that the bridge has a high risk level, the agency recommends that they develop and implement a “integrated risk reduction plan” to identify short-term and long-term safety strategies.
Experts told The Times last year The risk of California bridges collapse on crashed ships is less than many bridges nationwide, as their support columns have been modified to withstand major earthquakes.
Nevertheless, Robert Dowell, associate professor of structural engineering at San Diego State University, said the Baltimore collapse showed that protecting bridges and “Dolphins” on bridges that install or upgrade large fenders and “dolphins” can give vessels a complete clear picture of the important support docks of Bridges, which demonstrates the critical importance of protecting bridges from large container ships.
“The influence of these very large container ships is huge,” Doyle said. “If you look at the large container ship that hit the Maryland bridge, which is stuck on the top of the ship from the bottom, even if there are fenders around it, the top of the ship will have a further impact.”
Goodwin said that in the 30 years since Aashto proposed the guide, ship traffic in and out of the Bay Area has increased, and larger ships are pouring into the waters.
The busiest bridge in the Bay Area – San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge, was not found in the NTSB report. Goodwin said the bridge has been excluded because it has been evaluated and will start a $100 million project sometime after July to replace and upgrade the bridge’s fender system.
Bay Bridge upgrade has always been a regional priority 2007 and 2013Goodwin said. In both cases, the fender absorbs and deflects the energy, but 2007 Collision The tanker damaged the fenders and the ship, causing it to overflow more than 53,000 gallons of oil.
Goodwin said the next generation of Bay Bridge fenders will be built with rubber so they can better absorb energy on board and protect bridges and vessels.
Even so, Dewell said all bridges should be evaluated even on the Bay Bridge before the Baltimore Bridge collapsed.
“Everyone should look at them,” he said. “If the assessment was done over a year ago, I would look back because a lot of work has been done last year since the Maryland bridge collapsed.”
Cargo ship Dali hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26, 2024. (Maryland National Guard via AP, Archives)
(No credit/AP)
On March 26, 2024, a 948-foot cargo ship left the port of Baltimore and Accidentally hit the support pier at the Francis Scott Key Bridgecrushing the structure almost immediately. Within 25 seconds, the entire bridge drove into the Patapsco River.
Six construction workers were killed.
The NTSB found that according to guidelines developed by AASHTO, the acceptable risk threshold for Baltimore Bridges for critical or basic bridges is almost 30 times higher.
Although the Golden Gate Bridge was built in 1937, other California bridges that may be at risk were built in the 1950s to the 1970s – Aashto guidance was issued for NET Bridges back in 1991 to respond to NTSB’s investigation into NTSB’s Sunshine Antenna Bridge in Florida.
In a March report, the NTSB urged the federal highway government to establish an interdisciplinary team with the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help owners of potentially vulnerable bridges assess and reduce the risk of bridge collapse.
The Federal Highway Administration and AASHTO cannot require bridge owners to design the risk of a catastrophic failure in a bridge collision before issuing the 1991 guidelines.
However, even if existing bridges are not required for vulnerability assessment, NTSB is Press releaserecommended by Aashto in 1991 and again in 2009, all bridge owners conducted such an assessment of existing bridges to assess the risk of their catastrophic collapse.
The NTSB noted that if the Maryland Transportation Bureau (which does not require a vulnerability assessment to assess the Francis Scott Key Bridge) had an assessment of Francis Scott’s bridge, based on recent ship traffic, the NTSB noted that state agencies would be aware that the bridge would exceed acceptable risks and could reduce the risk of crashes and deaths on the bridge.
Older bridges must be evaluated and upgraded if necessary – must be mandatory, Taur said.
“I think they should be asked to conduct detailed evaluations,” Dowell said. “And if the evaluation follows the proposed procedure, it means that an upgrade is required or should be done, then I think they should be asked to do so.”
