Maryland had not conducted a recommended risk assessment on the Baltimore bridge that collapsed after it was struck by a ship last March, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday.
In a news briefing, the board’s chairwoman, Jennifer L. Homendy, said if Maryland officials had conducted the assessment, they would have found that the bridge, the Francis Scott Key, was at serious risk of collapse from a strike by a large ship.
Six workers on a crew doing overnight repairs to the bridge roadway died in the collapse, which paralyzed one of the nation’s busiest ports for days.
Dozens of other bridges across the country, including landmarks like the Brooklyn Bridge, have not had the same recommended assessment, and thus carry an unknown level of risk, Ms. Homendy said.
“Frankly, we’ve been sounding the alarm on this since the tragedy occurred,” she said at the news conference in Washington.
Investigators with the board found that dozens of bridges in 19 states had not been assessed for risk of collapse, even though the volume of vessel traffic passing underneath these bridges suggested a strike by a ship was a distinct possibility. The N.T.S.B. has contacted the operators of these bridges — in most cases, state transportation departments and regional port authorities — to urge them to conduct assessments and, if needed, come up with measures to reduce the risk of collapse.
Had officials with the state of Maryland done this, Ms. Homendy said, “the collapse could have been prevented.”
The Maryland Transportation Authority did not respond to messages seeking comment.
The report comes almost exactly a year after the Dali, a 984-foot-long container ship, crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
The federal government sued the owner and operator of the Dali last September, announcing a settlement roughly a month later, with the defendants paying more than $100 million to cover the cost of the federal response. The F.B.I. opened a criminal investigation into the incident last year, though details have not been made public.
The Dali, which has returned to transcontinental shipping after undergoing repairs, is registered in Singapore and owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and managed by Synergy Marine Group, both of which are based in Singapore.
The process of replacing the bridge is well underway. Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland has unveiled the design of a new bridge, the state Department of Transportation has entered into contracts with construction firms and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued permits. Construction of the new bridge at the site is expected to begin in early fall.
A federal spending package that was passed late last year includes the cost of rebuilding the bridge, though the state is continuing to pursue the Dali’s owner and operator in court to force them to pay for damages. Along with the state, victims’ families are suing for wrongful death claims, local governments are suing for economic damage and various private businesses are suing for economic loss.
Days after the collapse, the Dali’s owners and operator petitioned in admiralty court to limit their damages, an issue that needs to be resolved before much of this litigation can proceed. A federal judge in Maryland has scheduled a trial on this question for June 2026.
Bernard Mokam and Makaelah Walters contributed reporting.