The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended Thursday that vulnerability assessments be conducted on 68 bridges across 19 states, including the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, to determine the risk of bridge collapse from a vessel collision.
It’s part of the ongoing investigation into the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore in March of last year.
While the NTSB’s Marine Investigation Report does not suggest the 68 bridges are certain to collapse, it said regulations studying their vulnerability to vessel collisions were not in place when these bridges were built.
Since 1994, the Federal Highway Administration has required that new bridges be designed to minimize the risk of a catastrophic bridge collapse from a vessel collision. The Key Bridge was built before those design requirements were put in place. A vulnerability assessment of the bridge would have alerted authorities to the risk and led to proactive steps to reduce them, the NTSB said.
The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge was built in 1956. Other Bay Area bridges listed as needing a risk assessment include the Carquinez Bridge, Benicia-Martinez Bridge, Antioch Bridge, San Mateo-Hayward Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge, all of which were built between 1937 and 1978.
