Could the Baltimore bridge disaster happen in LA County? Experts talk about the differences
Driving across the more than 60-year-old Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro, you may wonder about its durability following the bridge collapse in Baltimore caused by a runaway container ship.
"You don't have to worry about a ship accident," said USC professor Adam Rose,
Rose primarily focuses on natural, technological and human-made disasters. He said that Los Angeles County may not be at risk of a ship sticking to one of our local bridges but says the accident in Baltimore is an ongoing problem that goes back decades.
In 1980, a similar tragedy happened in Tampa when a ship hit a bridge due to a technical failure. Nine years later, the Loma Prieta Earthquake caused the deadly collapse of the two-story Bay Bridge in Northern California.
The American Society of Civil Engineers gives the nation's infrastructure a C- and warns about its vulnerability. It's because of the aging infrastructure in the United States, according to Rose.
While the Vincent Thomas is more than 60 years old Caltrans said it is structurally sound but proposed a plan to replace the entire deck and the seismic sensors.
"We have to worry about earthquakes," Rose said. "An earthquake could cause that bridge to fail."
Caltrans also manages the Long Beach International Gateway Bridge, which opened in 2020 and replaced the old Gerald Desmond Bridge. It has the latest seismic safety features and doesn't have columns protruding from the water.
The disaster in Baltimore may add more congestion to the ports of LA and Long Beach.
