As the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore still rests in the Patapsco River after being struck by a container ship on the morning of March 26 and suffering a catastrophic collapse, curiosity continues to build as to what caused the incident.
Experts tell The Epoch Times that although the steel-arched bridge was nearly 50 years old, it would have likely collapsed whether it was new or old because the ship took out the main support columns.
Maryland officials said Tuesday morning that the bridge was fully up to code and was not on any of the state’s lists for bridges in poor condition at the time of the incident, which was caught on video and shared widely across all media platforms.
More Unknown Than Known Currently
Jason Matzus, one of the lead plaintiff lawyers in an ongoing lawsuit over the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse in Pittsburgh in 2022, said there are still critical questions that need to be addressed.Some of the questions that need to be answered, Mr. Matzus said, are what caused the ship to lose power and propulsion and whether it was system failure, human error, or both.
He said another question that needs to be answered is whether there were warning signs or system alerts before the crash, whether these systems were checked “pre-trip”—similar to airline pilots performing preflight systems checks—and if there were any backups or redundancies to help in this type of emergency.
Catastrophic Damage
Dayakar Penumadu, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Tennessee, said although the bridge was old, opening in 1977, once the support was removed, it couldn’t survive.“The foundation support structure, a critical part of safe functioning of the bridge structure, was damaged significantly due to lateral impact of the cargo ship,” Mr. Penumadu said in a written comment after reviewing footage of the incident. “This likely removed the complete support structure for the right part of the first main span of the bridge and caused catastrophic damage.”
The only way for this type of accident to be avoided, he said, is to ensure that bridge support structures and foundations are safe from ship and barge traffic and other impacts.
“No bridge can survive if you remove foundation support no matter how young or old the structure is,” Mr. Penumadu added.
A question has been raised as to if and how structures are designed for impact other than lateral and vertical loads, Hafsa Bur, an architect and sustainability expert, told The Epoch Times.
“Structural Analysis of bridge design takes into account limit states beyond which a bridge can’t perform structurally therefore most design calculations stay within those limits,” Ms. Bur said in written comments. “Design also takes into account structural fatigue, as a result of loading/unloading and general material weakness from use. Substructures such as columns, which collapsed on impact in this case, also need careful design consideration for bearing loads taking into account transfer of load from the deck etc to the support columns.”
She noted bridges are carefully designed for movement, expansion, and contraction due to thermal changes, but the question remains how well any structures—not just bridges—are designed for impact.
“I’m quite sure a detailed forensic failure analysis will be performed by the local jurisdictions and it will shed more light on the weaknesses,” she added.
