Investigators warn 68 American bridges are at risk from a Dali-style accident

The one-year anniversary since 2024’s most high-profile ship accident is next week, and the fallout from the Dali containership’s destruction of a bridge in Baltimore continues to permeate throughout the US. 

In the early hours of March 26 last year, the Dali lost power after leaving the port of Baltimore and struck a pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse, killing six construction workers and leading to one of the biggest investigations ever carried out by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

The NTSB said this week that 68 bridges across the US, including some of the country’s most famous ones such as the Golden Gate, should be assessed to see if they are at risk of collapse if hit by a ship. Transportation safety officials have urged the bridges’ owners to undertake immediate vulnerability assessments.

The Key Bridge, which at 2.6 km was Baltimore’s largest bridge, was almost 30 times greater than the risk threshold based on guidance established by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, or AASHTO, NTSB officials said. But the owner of the bridge never evaluated that risk.

“A risk level above the acceptable threshold doesn’t mean a collapse from a vessel collision is an absolute certainty,” said NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy. “What we are telling bridge owners is that they need to know the risk and determine what actions they need to take to ensure safety.”

The NTSB is also urging the Federal Highway Administration, the US Coast Guard and the US Army Corps of Engineers to establish a team to offer guidance and assistance to bridge owners on evaluating and reducing the risk of a collapse from a vessel collision. Other well known bridges cited by the NTSB include New York’s iconic Brooklyn Bridge. 

Legal cases surrounding the Dali accident are expected to run for many years costing hundreds of millions of dollars.