The authorities say the main bridges around California need investigations to determine the risk of catastrophic collapse.

A year after The collapse of the Francis Scott Ki Bridge in BaltimoreAn independent government agency urged the owners of seven bridges in California – including the iconic golden gate bridge – to assess the risk of catastrophic breakdown urgently.

On March 18 a reportThe National Transport Safety Council has set a total of 68 bridges across the United States as not subject to weakness on the basis of the recent ships movement. He said that bridges have “an unknown level of the risk of collapse from the ship’s collision.”

The report, part of the continuous investigation In the collapse of the Baltimore Bridge, they said that the owners of the bridges-and all of them were built over the waterways suitable for navigation frequented by the ships traveling in the oceans-“they are likely to be familiar with the danger of bridges from the catastrophic weakness of the collision of a pot and potential potential to carry out counter-forfeits to reduce the weakness of the bridges.”

Some owners of the California Bridge told the times that after the collapse of the Baltimore Bridge, the assessments were already ongoing.

“Full compliance with all governmental and federal regulations, including federal scan requirements and evaluation requirements,” the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District said in a statement, and the iconic bridge contains “one of the most powerful ships protection protection systems on any bridge on the West Coast,” said Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District said in a statement.

However, the boycott noted that it had rented a consultant earlier this year to conduct an evaluation of the structural capacity of the bridge system in South Price barrier for ships collision.

The province said: “The results of the study will be presented to the Federal Highway Administration.”

John Godwin, a spokesman for the outcome authority in the Gulf region, who runs all revenues of the outcome of bridges in the area owned and managed by Caltrans, told the Times newspaper in which his agency began last July with Caltrans and other groups to evaluate the movement of ships throughout the Gulf, including the seven -year waterways, all the TOLL bombings in the country.

“I think it is intelligent to evaluate the weakness of all bridges,” said Godwin. “The risk of collapsing is very small, but it is not zero. There is no false sense of safety there …”

Most of the seven California bridges that were determined as a potential weak in the Gulf region: Richmond San Rafael Bridge, Karkin’s Bridge, Benissia Martinez Bridge, Antioch Bridge, San Matteo Hyuard Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. The only one in southern California is the Coronado Bridge in San Diego.

Caltrans, who owns the Coronado Bridge, said the agency has declined the report’s recommendations.

“Calitrans CBS Affiliate KFMB-TV In a statement. “Caltrans reviews the recommendations of the National Transport Safety Council and will respond to its request as soon as the review is completed.”

NTSB urged the seven California bridges to conduct a risk assessment based on the direction created by the American AssN. One of the highways and transportation officials, or Ashto, for more than 30 years.

If the owners of the bridge determine that the bridge has a high level of risk, the agency recommends the development and implementation of a “comprehensive plan to reduce risk” that determines short -term and long -term safety strategies.

Experts told the Times last year that California bridges were less likely to overcome a crash with a wrong cargo ship than many bridges across the country, because the columns of their support were modified to make them carry the main earthquakes.

However, Robert Duel, Associate Professor of Structural Engineering at San Diego State University, said that the collapse of the Timoor showed the importance of protecting the bridge sidewalks from large container ships by installing or upgrading large bumps and “dolphins” on bridges that completely prevent ships from vital supportive numbers of bridges.

“The power of influence with very large container ships is huge.” “If you look at the large container ship that struck the bridge in Maryland, the top of the ship is stuck from the bottom, so even if there is a barrier around it, the top of the ship more can affect the column part.”

During the thirty years, which has passed since Ashto entered its instructions, Godwin said, traffic has increased in the Gulf region and abroad, and many ships walking in their waters

A more crowded bridge in the Gulf region-San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge-has not been identified in the NTSB report. Godwin said the bridge was excluded because it was already evaluated, and a project worth $ 100 million will start at some time after July to replace and upgrade the barrier system in the bridge.

Bay Bridge’s upgrade was a regional priority after the ships shocked in 2007 and 2013Godwin said. In both cases, the fenders absorbed and transferred energy, but collided in 2007, with an oil tanker, damaging the bumps and the ship, causing more than 53,000 gallons of oil to leak.

Godwin said that the next generation of Bay Bridge will be built with rubber, so that they can better absorb the energy than the ship’s strike and protect the bridge and ships.

However, Doyle said that all the bridges that were evaluated before the Baltimore Bridge collapsed, until the Gulf Bridge.

“Each of them must be seen,” he said. “If the evaluation was made more than a year ago, I will double again and take another look, because there was a lot of work that took place last year since the bridge collapsed in Maryland.”

On March 26, 2024, a 948 -foot cargo ship lost energy while leaving Baltimore port He was shocked by a support pavement for the Francis Scott Ki BridgeAlmost immediately destroy the structure. In 25 seconds, the entire bridge decreased in the Batabco River.

Six members of the construction crew were killed.

NTSB found that the Baltimore Bridge was approximately 30 times above the acceptable risk threshold of critical or basic bridges, according to the guidelines that Ashto set.

While the Golden Gate Bridge was built in 1937, other California bridges that could be a risk in the fifties until the 1970s – a long time before Ashto Lugnance in 1991 to obtain new bridges in response to NTSB in the collapse of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida.

In the March report, NTSB urged federal highway management to create a multidisciplinary team with the US Coast Guard and the US Army Engineers to help potentially vulnerable bridges assess and reduce the risk of collapse.

Federal and Ashto highways management cannot require bridge owners to assess the risk of catastrophic failure of the bridge from the ship’s collision if designed before the 1991 guidance is issued.

Although the current bridges were not required to conduct a weak evaluation, NTSB said in a press release Ashto recommended in 1991 – and again in 2009 – that all owners of bridges drag such assessment on the current bridges to assess their catastrophic risks.

If the Maryland Transport Authority, which was not required to conduct a weak evaluation to evaluate the Francis Scott Bridge, conducted such an evaluation based on the recent traffic on ships, as NTSB indicated that the government agency was aware that the bridge was higher than acceptable risk and could have taken steps to reduce the risks of collision and prevent death.

Doyle said that the evaluation of the old bridges – and the promotion, if necessary – should be mandatory.

“I think they should be asked to conduct a detailed evaluation,” Dowle said. And if the evaluation, after the procedures that are placed, appear[s] Equipals must be made or must be done, then I think they should be required. “