Loose wire that caused Baltimore bridge collapse could cost $5.2B to replace
A loose signal wire caused the blackout that sent the cargo ship Dali crashing into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Tuesday, blaming the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) for failing to assess the bridge’s ability to withstand a ship strike.The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge occurred early on March 26, 2024, when the container ship Dali lost power and struck a support pier, prompting the spans to fall into the Patapsco River.The NTSB’s final report found that a single misinstalled wire led to a total power loss that left the Dali without propulsion or steering moments before impact.The board said the tragedy could have been prevented if Maryland had followed safety recommendations issued years earlier.“The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the contact of the container ship Dali with the Francis Scott Key Bridge was a loss of electrical power blackout due to a loose signal wire connection to a terminal block stemming from the improper installation of wireless label banding,” the board said.Investigators said the crew reacted quickly to the blackout but had too little time to restore power before the vessel struck the bridge.
The ship’s proximity to the span, combined with delays in restarting its systems, made the collision unavoidable.The report also faulted the MDTA for not conducting a vulnerability assessment, a step recommended by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials to identify ways to protect bridges from ship strikes.The NTSB said contributing to the collapse “was the lack of countermeasures to reduce the bridge’s vulnerability to collapse due to impact by oceangoing vessels, which could have been implemented if a vulnerability assessment had been conducted.”Engineers testified that the Dali’s crew misused a flushing pump as a service pump, a practice the ship’s operator, Synergy Ma...