Louisiana is home to some of the nation's riskiest bridges
Fears of boat collisions with bridges have run high since a container ship hit theFrancis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore last year, collapsing the bridge and killing six people.
Now, a study from John Hopkins University shows just how risky these collisions are among the nation's biggest bridges.
With this investigation we wanted to know if what happened to the Key Bridge was a rare occurrence. Was it an aberration? We found its really not, saidMichael Shields, a Johns Hopkins engineer specializing in risk assessment and lead investigator of the National Science Foundation, said in comments with the study.
Some of the nation's busiest bridges will likely suffer a boat collision, at least once, that can cause catastrophic damage or collapse within 20 to 50 years,despite being designed to keep collapses to a less than 1 in 10,000 chance, according to the study, which reviewed 16 years of U.S. Coast Guard data and ship aberrancy ratesfrom the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
A large ship colliding with a bridge won't necessarily cause collapse, but Shields said it would almost certaintly cause irreperarable damage.
The frequency of ship traffic and how close to the piers they sail were strong predictors of collisions, the study said.
Lousiana's Huey P. Long Bridge, California's San Francisco-Oakland Bay Brdige and Louisiana's Crescent City Connection, Texas'sBeltway 8 Bridge and Louisiana'sHale Boggs Memorial Bridge are likelyto be hit with ships within less than 40 years,the study said.
"We want that number to be thousands of years," Shields said. If one of these massive ships hits a bridge, its catastrophic."
The Huey P. Long Bridge had the highest risk, with onecollision expected every 17 years.
On the other hand, the study said theJohn A. Blatnik Bridge inMinnesota andWisconsin should expect a collision within 634 years.
John Hopkinssaid some bridges with considerable traffic from large ships didn'tmake the list because their piers are safely on land, away from the passing ships, includingMinnesotas Deluth Lift Bridge and California'sVincent Thomas Bridge.
To prevent collisions, ship traffic should be kept away from piers and piers shoould be equippedwithprotections including dolphins and other structures.
Still, Shields said there are limits to the predictions.
Theres still a lot of uncertainty in predicting the frequency of ship collisions, even with the best data we have, he said. But the important point is not whether it will occur every 17 years or every 75 years. Its that its happening way too often.
Sign up below for The Daily Consumer, our newsletter on the latest consumer news, including recalls, scams, lawsuits and more.
Posted: 2025-03-24 20:52:22
