The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) sounded an alarm during a news conference Thursday, warning 30 owners of 68 bridges across 19 states to conduct vulnerability assessments to determine the risk of a bridge collapsing due to being struck by a ship.  

The NTSB also cited a Maryland state authority’s lack of an assessment that may have prevented the deadly collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.

The 984-foot Singapore-flagged cargo vessel Dali was moving out of Baltimore Harbor March 26, 2024, when 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 on the Patapsco River. 

The bridge collapsed, killing six construction crew members and injuring two other people.

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NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said Thursday the Key Bridge was almost 30 times above the “acceptable risk threshold” for critical or essential bridges, according to guidance from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).

While the bridges that have not been evaluated are not certain to collapse, the NTSB said “had the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) conducted a vulnerability assessment on the Key Bridge based on recent vessel traffic, MDTA would have been aware that the Key Bridge was beyond the acceptable risk and would have had information to proactively reduce the bridge’s risk of a collapse and loss of lives associated with a vessel collision with the bridge.”

“Frankly, we’ve been sounding the alarm on this since the tragedy occurred,” Homendy said. “We need action. Public safety depends on it.”

The NTSB over the last year identified 68 bridges designed before AASHTO guidance was established that do not have a current vulnerability assessment. 

The NTSB is recommending that the 30 bridge owners evaluate whether their bridges are above the AASHTO acceptable level of risk, and, if so, develop and implement a comprehensive risk reduction plan.

AASHTO developed and published the vulnerability assessment calculation for new bridges on the National Highway System in 1991 in response to the NTSB’s investigation of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge collapse in Florida.

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At the time, AASHTO also recommended that all bridge owners conduct a vulnerability assessment on existing bridges to “evaluate their risk of catastrophic collapse in the event of a vessel collision.” 

Decades later, in 2009, AASHTO reiterated that recommendation again.

Since 1994, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has required new bridges be designed to minimize the risk of a catastrophic bridge collapse from a vessel collision, “given the size, speed and other characteristics of vessels navigating the channel under the bridge,” according to the NTSB.

Homendy added that the NTSB is also recommending the FHWA, U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers establish an “interdisciplinary team” to provide guidance and assistance to bridge owners in evaluating and reducing the risk.

Reducing the risk could mean infrastructure improvements or operational changes, according to the NTSB.

The NTSB will also be releasing more than 1,000 pages of investigative material on the public docket Thursday, including the bridge report and some interviews.

Next week, the NTSB intends to release the hazardous materials, meteorological and survival factors factual reports and a study conducted by its office of engineering on vessel size increases and associated safety risk.

Voyage data recorder audio transcripts and associated data will follow, leading up to the NTSB releasing its final report, which will likely happen in the fall.

The MDTA did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment Thursday afternoon.