engineering experts say catastrophic failures such as tuesday’s collapse of a steel bridge in maryland are highly unlikely in quebec, but impossible to rule out.
baltimore’s francis scott key bridge crumbled into the patapsco river early tuesday after a cargo ship lost power and rammed into a support column. as of tuesday afternoon, six people were missing. a mayday call from the crew, issued seconds before the crash, allowed authorities to stop vehicle traffic onto the bridge, maryland gov. wes moore said.
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opened in 1977, the key bridge was deemed to be in overall fair condition in 2021, according to the most recent report by the federal highway administration’s national bridge inventory, which also concluded that the bank protection was “in need of minor repairs.” about 12.4 million commercial and passenger vehicles used the span in 2023, maryland government data show.
could a similar scenario occur on the st. lawrence river? hours after the accident, the st. lawrence seaway management corporation issued a statement to “reassure the public and its stakeholders that bridge design and robust physical protections safeguard all structures along the marine corridor.” it highlighted the seaway’s “24/7 operational vigilance over marine and vehicular traffic.”
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nathalie lessard, a spokesperson for the jacques cartier and champlain bridges inc., declined to comment for this story. the federal crown corporation manages montreal’s jacques-cartier bridge , which opened in 1930, and the samuel-de champlain bridge, which began operating in 2019 .
trois-rivières’ laviolette bridge , whose design is reminiscent of the key bridge, is protected by rocks in the water. massive rocks were installed around four support columns in 1986 to correct a perceived vulnerability to ship collisions, bertrand said. in fact, the bridge suffered no damage when a ship ran aground in 1992, he said.
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