The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad (NOPB) is among the 30 bridge owners identified in the National Transportation Safety Board's report issued yesterday that recommends 68 U.S. bridges in 19 states be evaluated for risk of collapse from a vessel strike. 

The NOPB owns the Huey P. Long Bridge, which supports six lanes of vehicular traffic and two tracks of rail traffic across the Mississippi River. The NOPB maintains the railroad port of the bridge, while the Louisiana Department of Transportation maintains the bridge's roadway. Progressive Railroading has reached out to the NOPB for its response to the NTSB report.

The NTSB issued its recommendations as part of its ongoing investigation into the March 26, 2024, collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge at the Port of Maryland. Six road crew members died after falling into the Patapsco River as the bridge collapsed after being struck by the containership Dali.

NTSB investigators found that the Key Bridge was almost 30 times above the acceptable risk threshold for critical or essential bridges, according to guidance established by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy announced yesterday during a press conference.

The NTSB learned that Maryland officials failed to assess the bridge's vulnerability. If they had acted, it might have prevented the bridge's collapse, she said.

As part of the Key Bridge investigation, the NTSB identified 68 bridges that were designed before the AASHTO guidance was established — like the Key Bridge — that do not have a current vulnerability assessment. The recommendations are issued to bridge owners to calculate the annual frequency of collapse for their bridges using AASHTO’s Method II calculation, NTSB officials said in a press release.

The report does not suggest that the 68 bridges are certain to collapse, Homendy said. The NTSB is recommending that these 30 bridge owners evaluate whether the bridges are above the AASHTO acceptable level of risk. If the evaluations find that their bridges have a risk level above the AASHTO threshold, the NTSB is recommending that bridge owners develop and implement a comprehensive risk reduction plan.

In 1991, AASHTO developed and published the vulnerability assessment calculation for new bridges on the National Highway System. At the time, AASHTO also recommended that all bridge owners conduct the vulnerability assessment on existing bridges to evaluate their risk of catastrophic collapse in the event of a vessel collision. AASHTO reiterated that recommendation to states again in 2009, according to the NTSB.