Feds Warn 68 Major Bridge Crossings Need Safety Inspections, Including Golden Gate, Brooklyn, and Ben Franklin Spans
The NTSB wants to prevent another tragedy like the Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore a year ago, with the head of the agency saying there is ‘no excuse’ for what happened.
The National Transportation Safety Board says that nearly 70 of the country’s crucial bridge crossings, including the Golden Gate and Brooklyn bridges, need rigorous safety inspections to prevent another collapse like the Francis Scott Key Bridge at Baltimore last year.
In a new report released this week, officials for the federal agency are urging 19 states across the country to conduct “Vulnerability Assessments” and implement “risk reduction strategies” for 68 bridges.
The report says the severe damage to the Key Bridge, which collapsed after a container ship crashed into one of the span’s support columns nearly a year ago, was due to the fact it was built before a 1991 assessment on collision risk levels by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Six construction workers were killed.
NTSB officials fear that other crossings could face the same fate if there’s no plan for preparation.
“Today’s report does not suggest that 68 bridges are certain to collapse,” read a press release announcing the report’s release. “The NTSB is recommending that these 30 bridge owners evaluate whether the bridges are above the AASHTO acceptable levels of risk.”
“The NTSB recommended that bridge owners develop and implement a comprehensive risk reduction plan if the calculations indicate a bridge has a risk level about the AASHTO threshold.”
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said in a press briefing for the report that officials in Maryland could have prevented the catastrophic incident.
“[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,” she said, according to the Associated Press. “There’s no excuse.”
Also included in the list of bridges at risk are the Walt Whitman and Ben Franklin Bridges at Philadelphia, the Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge in Rhode Island, the Tobin Bridge at Boston, and the St. John’s Bridge at Portland, Oregon.
The report also lists nearly every span at New York City as needing risk assessment, including the Verrazano Narrows, Manhattan, and George Washington Bridges.
