More than 10 bridges in New York and New Jersey could collapse
'24.03.2025'
ForumDaily New York
More than a dozen bridges in New York and New Jersey are among 68 U.S. viaducts that require inspection because they could collapse if a ship hits them, according to NYPost.
The 26-page report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was released on March 20. It followed an investigation into the Key Bridge disaster in Baltimore. The structure was designed in such a way that if even one steel element failed, the entire structure could collapse. In 2024, the massive container ship Dali crashed into one of the vertical supports. The entire 2,5-kilometer-long bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River.
At least 17 structures in the U.S. have a “failure-critical” design like the Key Bridge, including the country’s largest and most famous overpasses.
Among them are eight that are similar in their characteristics to the Key, including two New York landmarks, the George Washington Overpass and the Verrazano Narrows Overpass. However, unlike the Key's design, bridges George Washington and Verrazano Narrows are suspended structures, with their support towers much closer to shore, making them unlikely to be hit by cargo ships.
New York's Dangerous Viaducts
The Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg and George Washington Bridges are named in a new NTSB report as requiring assessments and risk mitigation plans. collapse.
The Verrazzano-Narrows and Outerbridge bridges, which connect Brooklyn, New Jersey to Staten Island, also made the list.
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In New Jersey, the Newark Bay Viaduct and Commodore Barry Bridge also require inspection.
There is no guarantee that bridges over waterways used by ships will collapse if a vessel crashes into them. They were designed to current safety standards, first in 1991 and then revised in 2009.
The report also named three bridges connecting New York State with Canada: the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge, the Seaway International Bridge and the Thousand Islands Bridge.
The NTSB said its report "does not suggest that the 68 bridges will certainly collapse."
The council commissioned the Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers to create a risk assessment group.
Other bridges listed by the agency are located in Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington State, California, including the famous Golden Gate Bridge.
