When a container ship struck Baltimore\u2019s Francis Scott Key Bridge in March of 2024, causing its catastrophic collapse, Associate Professor of Civil and Systems Engineering Michael Shields described the collision as \u201ca wake-up call.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So he turned to the National Science Foundation and its Rapid Response Research (RAPID) program for funding to investigate the event\u2019s implications. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the Key Bridge, which carried more than 30,000 vehicles across the Patapsco River each day, was so vulnerable, Shields wanted to know what that meant for other U.S. bridges. Shields assembled a team of 13 students and two other faculty members to assess the country\u2019s bridges and develop new risk models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The students analyzed dozens of bridges, wrote data-collection programs, and built a virtual portal to report their findings. Using this information, they calculated collision risk for major bridges and pinpointed which are most vulnerable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their findings, released in March, revealed that 19 bridges are at risk of catastrophic collision. Among the most vulnerable are the four bridges highlighted at left. \u201cThere\u2019s still a lot of uncertainty in predicting the frequency of ship collisions,\u201d Shields says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the important point is not whether it will occur every 17 years or every 75 years. It\u2019s that it\u2019s happening way too often.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 CLAIRE GOUDREAU<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Study finds 19 U.S. bridges are at risk of catastrophic collision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"issue":[42],"class_list":["post-50768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current","issue-spring-2025"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n