Warnings of Baltimore bridge collapse issued years prior
A maritime safety committee warned for 20 years about the potential collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge due to large vessel collisions. Despite these alerts, largely disregarded by authorities, the recent collapse resulted in tragic consequences, with a cargo ship causing the bridge’s downfall and claiming the lives of six construction workers. The incident underscores the urgent need to address infrastructure vulnerabilities.
A maritime safety committee spent two decades warning of the possibility of a catastrophic “collapse” of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, adding that it was “not designed to withstand collisions from large vessels.”
Warnings from the committee, which included experts from key government agencies, largely fell on deaf ears, a new report claimed Thursday.
A ship could lose power “in close vicinity to a bridge,” and an out-of-control vessel could cause “a bridge collapse,” were some of the warnings in previously unreported records obtained by the Washington Post.
The Dali, a massive cargo ship heading to Sri Lanka, left the Port of Baltimore early on March 26 when it lost power and propulsion. The container ship, which had enough supplies on board for a monthlong trip, crashed into one of the bridge’s supporting columns, toppling the bridge and killing six construction workers.
Federal investigators said earlier this month that a preliminary report showed the Dali had two electrical blackouts in the hours before it left port.
U.S. Coast Guard Vice Adm. Peter Gautier told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee this month about the continuing vulnerability of the nation’s infrastructure, adding that the colossal ships now coming in and out of the country’s ports have raised the risk of other deadly collisions.
“It is time to more broadly understand these risks,” Gautier said.
When the Dali crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, federal, state, and local officials looked on in horror, describing the scene as a one-off and something that could not have been anticipated. However, the maritime safety group, known as the Baltimore Harbor Safety and Coordination Committee, had been sounding the alarm for years.
The group reportedly discussed both the Chesapeake Bay Bridge as well as the Baltimore bridge. Among the most vocal were Maryland pilots, who board large vessels and then guide them in and out of port.
Meeting minutes were logged and circulated within the various agencies who had representatives on the committee, Frank Hamons, who was among the first members of the committee in 1980, said. Hamons, a dredging manager for the Maryland Port Administration, chaired the committee until he retired in 2013. He said he wished he would have been even louder in his warning. However, when top Maryland transportation officials were contacted by the outlet, they said they did not recall ever being briefed on the concerns.
Experts have disagreed about whether anything could have saved the Baltimore bridge given the Dali’s massive size and speed at the time it crashed. However, most have agreed that more protections need to be in place given the risk by container ships like the Dali, which regularly use East Coast ports to deliver goods.
What is known is that a ship-collision protection system can be costly — but might be worth it.
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For example, a system for the Delaware Memorial Bridge, which stretches from Delaware to New Jersey, is projected to cost more than $90 million.
The cost to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge is estimated to be in the neighborhood of $2 billion.
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