In the wake of last month’s fatal collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, the New York Times has published an assessment of other vulnerable spans across the country in danger of similar catastrophic failures due to the precarity of critical elements and various structural deficiencies.

According to the report, a total of 309 bridges are at risk of collapsing from a direct hit by an errant ship as was the case in Baltimore and nearly repeated in an incident last week at the Verrazzano Bridge in New York City.

Of those 309 surveyed, 193 bridges that service a significant number of motor vehicle traffic (10,000 or more cars per day) face dangers stemming from a lack of protective barriers at their pier supports and caissons. Among the largest are the Lewis and Clark Bridge in Washington state and the Crescent City Connection in New Orleans.

The problem in many cases is that the cost of installing protective measures is far greater than the risk of an incident. Beyond those, many "fracture critical" conditions (e.g., those containing susceptible components) exist at half of the bridges lacking adequate pier defenses. Examples include the important northeast corridor's Commodore Barry and Maurice J. Tobin Memorial bridges, the 40,000-car-per-day former also having no waterborne protections.

This accounting follows another report produced last year by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, which detailed $319 billion worth of major repairs or replacement work needed on a total of 222,000 spans across the country. 

Bridges have been a key target of the Biden Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, amounting to $40 billion in total spending. These improvements won't be seen until 2027, with more funds likely as the number of bridges considered to be in "good" condition continues its decline. These will augment key transportation routes, including I-95 and I-90. Total replacement costs for the Key Bridge, meanwhile, have been reported at around $400 million.