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The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Tuesday has raised serious questions about what safety or protective mechanisms might have prevented the disaster and the loss of six lives.
It is still unclear what caused a massive 985-foot long cargo vessel to apparently lose control and strike a pier, also known as a pylon, a critical part of the structure that keeps the deck of the bridge in place.
But could the bridge have been better protected to safeguard against a large vessel striking a key part of its infrastructure?
The Francis Scott Key Bridge, which was built in 1977, does not appear to have any protective barriers in place, and the pier that was struck was not surrounded by any barrier or buffer-like structures, according to photos and videos from the scene. There are some small circular-shaped structures in the water, but it is unclear if they are barriers that serve another purpose. A spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment about whether the Baltimore bridge had a bumper system or protective barriers in place.
Ron Harichandran, Ph.D., dean of the Tagliatela College of Engineering in Connecticut, told Fox News Digital that protective barriers – if they were there – may not have been enough to stop the Dali, given its sheer size and weight. The Singapore-flagged container has dead weight tonnage, or total tonnage, of nearly 117,000 tons.
“Most of those protections systems that they have directly around the pier would probably not have been able to protect this particular incident because of the size of the cargo ship and the weight,” Harichandran said. “It was just too big.”
“The only thing that might have worked is if they had sort of an island around the piers and that’s not done often,” Harichandran added. “It basically involves filling up an area of the river and building an island, so the ship would hit the island and not the pier. That’s what you would have to do if you wanted that level of protection, but obviously, that’s quite expensive.”
“It should really have been done at the time the bridge is built and not retrofitting it,” he added.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on May 7, 2017. A bridge support was struck by a container ship, causing a catastrophic collapse. (Rick Brady)
Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a Tuesday press briefing that protective structures would be a part of the investigation into the collapse of the Maryland bridge.
“There’s some questions about the structure of the bridge – protective structure around the bridge or around the piers to make sure there isn’t a collapse,” she said, responding to a reporter’s question. “We are aware of what a structure should have. Part of our investigation will be how was this bridge constructed? It will look at the structure itself. Should there be any sort of safety improvements? All of that will be part of our investigation.”
At least six construction workers who were on the bridge at the time of its collapse are presumed dead at the time of this report.
Harichandran said other more cost-effective systems can be used to alert bridge users.
“You could have trip wires and have more sophisticated warning sensors that would warn of approaching the bridge much earlier,” Harichandran said.
“For those kinds of remote sensing approaches, you could potentially have given an earlier warning of a disaster that could have gotten people out of the way. I know there was a warning because of the radio call, and it helped stop traffic and so on but an earlier warning might have warned the authorities sooner,” Harichandran added. “Think of a trip wire that is set up a mile before the bridge and if a ship is not to going the way it is supposed to it would set it off and warn people that something is amiss, and you could close the bridge.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
