A bridge in Baltimore, an important port on the east coast of the United States, was hit by a container ship in the early morning of the 26th. Why did the seemingly solid steel structure bridge break and collapse as a whole after just being hit by a container ship? Recently, experts from many institutions have analyzed the structure of the bridge.

According to the Federal Highway Administration, there are more than 16,800 such bridges in the United States that are prone to collapse, including some famous bridges such as New York’s Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. American bridge experts said that these steel bridge structures are classified as “fracture critical” and have no design redundancy, which means that as long as a key component or part of the bridge collapses, the entire structure may be “dragged down.”

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg previously said that the design structure of the collapsed bridge in Maryland could not withstand the direct impact of a ship weighing approximately 200 million pounds, or approximately 90,700 tons, on one of the key bridge piers. The impact it brings.

However, many bridge engineers pointed out that despite the structure, relevant departments still need to reflect on whether sufficient safety measures have been taken to prevent accidents. This includes whether an out-of-control vessel could have been prevented from hitting the bridge piers, or the bridge could have absorbed the impact without collapsing.

Bridge experts pointed out that from the photos, it seems that there are not many protective systems installed around the piers of the bridge involved, and that another bridge nearby is undergoing an anti-ship collision protection system upgrade recently, but it is unknown why the bridge involved did not have one before the incident. Take similar improvement measures. However, bridge experts stressed that they need to wait for the completion of the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation to know what measures could have mitigated the impact of the collision.