The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is harshly criticizing Maryland officials for failing to conduct a risk assessment of the Francis Scott Key Bridge before it collapsed a year ago and is recommending that 30 owners of 68 bridges across 19 states conduct a vulnerability assessment to determine the risk of bridge collapse from a vessel collision.
The agency indicated that had Maryland conducted such an assessment, it could have taken steps to reduce the risk of and possibly prevented last year’s tragic Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore. In its own assessment, NTSB found that the Key Bridge was considerably above the acceptable risk threshold for essential bridges.
The federal agency warned that many of the nation’s bridges may be above the acc