In the stark aftermath of the catastrophic collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is pushing for an urgent evaluation of bridge vulnerabilities across the nation, including in the Bay State. The crumbling incident, which claimed the lives of six construction workers, has cast a spotlight on the potential risks that older bridges face from ocean-going vessels. The NTSB, in an update provided by Chair Jennifer Homendy, cited a lapse in assessing the Maryland bridge against modern standards as a missed opportunity that could have foreseen the disaster.

Massachusetts' aging spans—the Tobin Bridge, Bourne Bridge, and Sagamore Bridge—face scrutiny by federal officials who have listed them among the 68 bridges in need of assessments for their ability to withstand ship strikes; Boston 25 News notes that since the Key Bridge disaster nearly a year ago, Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who are responsible for the Bourne and Sagamore bridges, have not yet publicized when these vulnerability assessments will occur despite urgent recommendations.

According to Homendy, an assessment would have revealed the Key Bridge's risks nearly 30 times above the acceptable threshold—indicative of an emerging national concern. “Public safety depends on it,” Homendy stated, emphasizing the urgency of the assessments for bridge owners. This push for proactive measures was supported by the discovery that the ship Dali's striking power was significantly greater than that of the ships considered in 1977 bridge standards, as reported by Boston 25 News.

In Massachusetts, the NTSB's warnings have been met with assurances from state officials who champion existing maritime safety practices, “MassDOT received the letter and report from NTSB late today and is reviewing their recommendations,” MassDOT stated, reinforcing a commitment to public safety and acknowledging the gravity of the Maryland failure, as detailed by WCVB. Yet, as Homendy noted, this isn't the first alert sounded—the call has been ringing since before the tragedy in testimony before Congress in April 2024—still safety reassessments for older structures, it seems, drift slowly into action.

Amid these concerns, the NTSB's recommendations have not declared that these bridges are on the verge of collapse, rather, Erin Bell, a civil and environmental engineering professor at the University of New Hampshire, told WCVB they should prompt bridge owners to seriously reevaluate risks in busy ports, looking into mitigation measures such as fender systems or even island barriers to better safeguard these structures. As federal investigators still unravel the cause of the Dali's power loss and its ensuing havoc, the industry and public officials are reminded that infrastructure is a legacy that demands vigilance and foresight, or else it may crumble under the weight of oversight.