“There’s still action that needs to occur to look, frankly, at how shipping has changed over the years, how transportation has changed in our waterways, the types of vessels that we are seeing, the types of container ships that we are seeing, the volume of traffic, and looking at bridge designs,” she said.

“If I were a state and the Department of Transportation, that’s what I would be looking at now — are these bridges protected for the types of traffic that is going through now?” Homendy told a Senate committee.

Key Bridge collapse four weeks later | PHOTOS

Bridge collapse due to vessel collision is rare and it took a nightmarish scenario to bring about disaster in Baltimore. The Dali, a cargo ship the size of the Eiffel Tower, appeared to lose power at the most inopportune moment, causing an unthinkable calamity.

Only, it wasn’t entirely unthinkable to some. In 2016, Michael A. Knott, a Moffat & Nichol engineer with expertise in bridge strikes, presented to a group of engineers in Baltimore on the topic of “Ship & Barge Collisions with Highway Bridges.” Referencing 35 instances of major bridge collapses worldwide since 1960, Knott explained that vessels run into trouble for several reasons, including engine or steering failure.

“Accidents do happen,” reads text from his slideshow. “It’s Only A Matter of Time.”

A ’70s bridge in 2024

Knott, who presented to Maryland’s section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, wasn’t specifically referencing the Key Bridge (although his slideshow did note a 1980 incident in which a much smaller ship hit the bridge). But bridges with piers in navigable waterways are at risk of collision, even if it’s to a small degree. For decades, the Key Bridge and its southern counterpart, the Bay Bridge, had avoided disaster despite thousands of ocean liners passing under them annually.

As long as everything goes as planned, there is no damage done. But things go wrong. In 2022, a Maryland pilot onboard the Ever Forward was distracted by his cellphone and the cargo ship missed a turn in a 50-foot deep channel, running aground in the bay. And at least 42 vessels have experienced propulsion, steering or power problems in Maryland waters since the start of 2021, according to a Sun analysis of U.S. Coast Guard reports.

When a vessel goes astray, it’s up to safety precautions, like fenders that protect piers or tugboats that steady cargo ships, to prevent catastrophe.

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