Johns Hopkins team assessing nation's bridges after deadly Baltimore collapse
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore are assessing the country’s bridges after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge
BALTIMORE — Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore are assessing the country’s bridges to determine the likelihood of another disaster like the one that collapsed the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
The team includes students and faculty members and will focus on large bridges near major ports of entry, officials said in a news release Wednesday.
“We need to know now, not five or 10 years from now, whether there is an outsize risk to bridges across the country,” said team leader Michael Shields, an engineer specializing in risk assessment. “The Key Bridge collapse was a wake-up call.”
The steel span crumbled in an instant after the container ship Dali lost power and crashed into one of its supporting columns shortly after leaving Baltimore’s port on March 26. Six members of a roadwork crew plunged to their deaths.
Experts and officials have noted a number of factors that made the bridge vulnerable, including minimal pier protection that hadn’t been improved in recent decades even as cargo ships grew larger and more imposing.
“Clearly the risk to the Key Bridge was very different in 2024 than it was in 1977 when the bridge opened,” Shields said. “But we don’t currently understand that risk.”
The researchers will examine whether other bridges are similarly vulnerable by building models to determine the probability of a ship deviating from course and causing catastrophe in or around major ports.
Johns Hopkins officials said they hope policymakers will use the findings of their assessment to inform future investment decisions and prioritize infrastructure safety upgrades. They
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