The National Transportation Safety Board recommended Thursday 68 bridges across 19 states be evaluated with a “vulnerability assessment” to determine their risk of collapse if involved in a vessel collision in the wake of last year’s deadly collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
Over the last year, the NTSB identified 68 bridges built before 1991 that don’t have a “current vulnerability assessment.” The recommendations were issued to 30 owners of the 68 different bridges across the country, NTSB officials announced Thursday.
Some of the bridges include the Golden Gate Bridge in California, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City and the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida.
In response to the recommendation from the NTSB, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District said Thursday that the Golden Gate Bridge is “in full compliance with all state and federal regulations” and that the district hired a consultant this year to “conduct an assessment of the South Tower fender system’s structural capacity for ship collisions.”
The NTSB noted that their recommendation does not suggest that the 68 bridges are certain to collapse, but rather those bridge owners evaluate whether the bridges are above the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ acceptable level of risk.
The 68 bridges were divided into two categories, “critical/essential” and “typical.” Those deemed critical/essential are those that serve as “important links.” The Key Bridge had this classification. Those that are not deemed critical/essential fall under the typical designation.
The recommendation comes as NTSB officials released new information in the Key Bridge collapse investigation Thursday. Nearly a year ago, on March 26, 2024, a large cargo ship lost electrical power and crashed into the Key Bridge, causing it to collapse, and knocking eight roadworkers, six of whom died, into the Patapsco River.
“Had the Key Bridge’s owner, the Maryland Transportation Authority, or MDTA, conducted a vulnerability assessment based on recent vessel traffic as recommended by AASHTO, MDTA would have been aware that the Key Bridge was above 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,” NTSB said in a statement Thursday.
The NTSB found that the Key Bridge was almost 30 times greater than the acceptable risk threshold for critical or essential bridges.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the final report of the Baltimore incident will be released in the fall.
The 68 bridges the NTSB recommended for risk of collapse evaluation
- California: Richmond-San Rafael Bridge
- California: Carquinez Bridge
- California: Benicia-Martinez Bridge
- California: Antioch Bridge
- California: San Mateo-Hayward Bridge
- California: Coronado Bridge
- California: Golden Gate Bridge
- Delaware: Summit Bridge
- Delaware: Saint Georges Bridge
- Delaware: Reedy Point Bridge
- Florida: Sunshine Skyway Bridge
- Florida: Napoleon Bonaparte Broward Bridge (Dames Point Bridge)
- Georgia: Talmadge Bridge
- Illinois: Chicago Skyway Calumet River Bridge
- Louisiana: Huey P. Long Bridge
- Louisiana: Greater New Orleans Bridge
- Louisiana: Israel LaFleur Bridge
- Louisiana: Crescent City Connection Bridge
- Louisiana: Hale Boggs (Luling) Bridge
- Louisiana: Horace Wilkinson Bridge
- Louisiana: Gramercy (Veterans Memorial) Bridge
- Louisiana: Sunshine Bridge
- Maryland: William Preston Lane Jr. (Bay) Bridge (eastbound)
- Maryland: William Preston Lane Jr. (Bay) Bridge (westbound)
- Maryland: Chesapeake City Bridge
- Massachusetts: Tobin Bridge (southbound upper)
- Massachusetts: Tobin Bridge (northbound lower)
- Massachusetts: Bourne Bridge
- Massachusetts: Sagamore Bridge
- Michigan: Mackinac Bridge Mackinac Bridge
- New Hampshire: Memorial Bridge
- New Jersey: Commodore Barry Bridge
- New Jersey: Vincent R. Casciano (Newark Bay) Bridge
- New York: Verrazano Narrows Bridge (eastbound)
- New York: Verrazano Narrows Bridge (westbound)
- New York: Brooklyn Bridge
- New York: Manhattan Bridge
- New York: Williamsburg Bridge
- New York: Newburgh-Beacon Bridge (eastbound)
- New York: Newburgh-Beacon Bridge (westbound)
- New York: Rip Van Winkle Bridge
- New York: Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge
- New York: George Washington Bridge
- New York: Outerbridge Crossing Bridge
- New York: Seaway International Bridge
- New York: Thousand Islands Bridge
- Ohio: CUY-00490-0010 (I-490) Bridge
- Ohio: CUY-00002-1441 (Main Avenue) Bridge
- Ohio: CUY-00006-1456 (Detroit Avenue) Bridge
- Ohio: CUY-00010-1613 (Carnegie Avenue) Bridge
- Ohio: LUC-01W02-0002 (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial) Bridge
- Ohio: LUC-00002-1862 (Anthony Wayne) Bridge
- Oregon: Astoria-Megler Bridge
- Oregon: St. Johns Bridge
- Pennsylvania: Walt Whitman Bridge
- Pennsylvania: Benjamin Franklin Bridge
- Pennsylvania: Betsy Ross Bridge
- Pennsylvania: Delaware River Turnpike Bridge
- Rhode Island: Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge
- Texas: Buffalo Bayou Toll Bridge
- Texas: Sidney Sherman Bridge
- Texas: Rainbow Bridge
- Texas: Veterans Memorial Bridge
- Texas: Hartman Bridge (eastbound)
- Texas: Hartman Bridge (westbound)
- Texas: GulfGate Bridge
- Washington: Lewis and Clark Bridge
- Wisconsin: Leo Frigo Bridge
Kris Van Cleave
contributed to this report.
