After Baltimore Collapse, Risk Reviews Urged for Dozens of U.S. Bridges

Maryland had not conducted a recommended risk assessment on the Baltimore bridge that collapsed after it was struck by a ship last March, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday.

In a news briefing, the board’s chairwoman, Jennifer L. Homendy, said if Maryland officials had conducted the assessment, they would have found that the bridge, the Francis Scott Key, was at serious risk of collapse from a strike by a large ship.

Six workers on a crew doing overnight repairs to the bridge roadway died in the collapse, which paralyzed one of the nation’s busiest ports for days.

Dozens of other bridges across the country, including landmarks like the Brooklyn Bridge, have not had the same recommended assessment, and thus carry an unknown level of risk, Ms. Homendy said.

“Frankly, we’ve been sounding the alarm on this since the tragedy occurred,” she said at the news conference in Washington.

Investigators with the board found that dozens of bridges in 19 states had not been assessed for risk of collapse in recent years, even though the volume of vessel traffic passing underneath these bridges suggested a strike by a ship was a distinct possibility. The N.T.S.B. has contacted the operators of these bridges — in most cases, state transportation departments and regional port authorities — to urge them to conduct assessments and, if needed, come up with measures to reduce the risk of collapse.

Had officials with the state of Maryland done this, Ms. Homendy said, “the collapse could have been prevented.”

The Maryland Transportation Authority did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The report comes almost exactly a year after the Dali, a 984-foot-long container ship, crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Much of the focus since the collapse has been on the Dali, which experienced repeated power failures in the minutes before crashing into the bridge. In legal filings, federal officials have described a litany of problems aboard the ship, with backup systems disabled and critical equipment “jury-rigged” to keep it functioning.

But a report released by the board on Thursday was almost entirely about the bridge. In 1991, Ms. Homendy said, Maryland was among the states that helped develop a test to evaluate bridges for the likelihood of collapse if they were to be struck by a ship. The risks varied according to a number of factors, including the speed of the vessels passing underneath, the depth of the water, the geometry of the bridge and what systems were in place to protect a bridge’s support structures.

Even as the vessel traffic crossing under the Key Bridge grew over the years in size and volume, increasing the bridge’s vulnerability, Maryland transportation officials never conducted such a risk assessment, Ms. Homendy said. An assessment by federal officials after the collapse revealed that the bridge’s risk level was almost 30 times the recommended threshold.

Given that Maryland officials helped developed the test, she said, “there’s no excuse.”

Ms. Homendy said a final report on the bridge collapse would be issued in the fall.

Last September, the federal government sued the owner and operator of the Dali announcing a settlement roughly a month later, with the defendants paying more than $100 million to cover the cost of the federal response. The F.B.I. opened a criminal investigation into the incident last year, though details have not been made public.

The Dali, which has returned to transcontinental shipping after undergoing repairs, is registered in Singapore and owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and managed by Synergy Marine Group, both of which are based in Singapore.

The process of replacing the bridge is well underway. Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland has unveiled the design of a new bridge, the state Department of Transportation has entered into contracts with construction firms and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued permits. Construction of the new bridge at the site is expected to begin in early fall.

A federal spending package that was passed late last year includes the cost of rebuilding the bridge, though the state is continuing to pursue the Dali’s owner and operator in court to force them to pay for damages. Along with the state, victims’ families are suing for wrongful death claims, local governments are suing for economic damage and various private businesses are suing for economic loss.

Days after the collapse, the Dali’s owners and operator petitioned in admiralty court to limit their damages, an issue that needs to be resolved before much of this litigation can proceed. A federal judge in Maryland has scheduled a trial on this question for June 2026.

Below are the bridges across the United States that the N.T.S.B. is urging local authorities to assess.

California

• Richmond-San Rafael Bridge (San Francisco Bay Area)

• Carquinez Bridge (Contra Costa County)

• Benicia-Martinez Bridge (Solano County)

• Antioch Bridge (Contra Costa County)

• San Mateo-Hayward Bridge (Foster City)

• Coronado Bridge (San Diego)

• Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco)

Delaware

• Summit Bridge (New Castle County)

• St. Georges Bridge (New Castle County)

• Reedy Point Bridge (New Castle County)

Florida

Georgia

Illinois

Louisiana

• Huey P. Long Bridge (Jefferson Parish)

• Israel LaFleur Bridge (Calcasieu Parish)

• Crescent City Connection Bridge (New Orleans)

• Hale Boggs (Luling) Bridge (St. Charles Parish)

• Horace Wilkinson Bridge (Port Allen; Baton Rouge)

• Gramercy (Veterans Memorial) Bridge (Gramercy; Wallace)

• Sunshine Bridge (St. James Parish)

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New York

• Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge (New York City)

• Brooklyn Bridge (New York City)

• Manhattan Bridge (New York City)

• Williamsburg Bridge (New York City)

• Newburgh-Beacon Bridge (Newburgh; Beacon)

• Rip Van Winkle Bridge (Hudson; Catskill)

• Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge (Ogdensburg; Johnstown, Ontario)

• George Washington Bridge (New York City; Fort Lee, N.J.)

• Outerbridge Crossing Bridge (New York City; Perth Amboy, N.J.)

• Seaway International Bridge (Massena; Cornwall, Ontario)

• Thousand Islands Bridge (Collins Landing; Selton, Ontario)

Ohio

• CUY-00490-0010 (I-490) Bridge (Cleveland)

• CUY-00002-1441 (Main Avenue) Bridge (Cleveland)

• CUY-00006-1456 (Detroit Avenue) Bridge (Cleveland)

• CUY-00010-1613 (Carnegie Avenue) Bridge (Cleveland)

• LUC-01W02-0002 (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial) Bridge (Toledo)

• LUC-00002-1862 (Anthony Wayne) Bridge (Toledo)

Oregon

• Astoria-Megler Bridge (Astoria; McGowan, Wash.)

• St. Johns Bridge (Portland)

Pennsylvania

• Walt Whitman Bridge (Philadelphia; Gloucester City, N.J.)

• Benjamin Franklin Bridge (Philadelphia; Camden, N.J.)

• Betsy Ross Bridge (Philadelphia; Delair, N.J.)

• Delaware River Turnpike Bridge (Bristol; Florence, N.J.)

Rhode Island

Texas

• Buffalo Bayou Toll Bridge (Harris County)

• Sidney Sherman Bridge (Houston)

• Rainbow Bridge (Port Arthur; Bridge City)

• Veterans Memorial Bridge (Jefferson County)

• Hartman Bridge (Baytown; La Porte)

• GulfGate Bridge (Port Arthur)

Washington

Wisconsin

Bernard Mokam and Makaelah Walters contributed reporting.