bridge collapse unlikely in quebec, but it 'can happen anywhere,' engineering experts say
“if a ship hits a bridge that’s already in bad condition, things are only going to get worse,” one montreal expert said tuesday in the wake of the catastrophic event in baltimore.
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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.
“the quebec bridges i know are certainly less vulnerable,” said bruno massicotte, a professor in polytechnique montréal’s civil, geological and mining engineering department who specializes in structural engineering. still, “the odds are always there. they’re low, but they’re not non-existent. any ship can have an engine failure. what happened in baltimore is a real case of bad luck.”
daniele malomo, an assistant professor in mcgill university’s department of civil engineering who has studied bridge collapses, said incidents such as this “can happen anywhere, especially if you have old bridges. wherever there is a river, or a sea, and a bridge, this can happen. this is why you need mitigation measures.”
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thirty-five major bridges collapsed worldwide between 1960 and 2015 due to ship or barge collisions, the world association for waterborne transport infrastructure said in a 2018 report cited by the associated press. eighteen of those collapses happened in the u.s.
one way to avoid catastrophic events of this kind is to ensure it’s not the bridge itself that takes the hit, but other structures — such as rocks or bollards — that are placed in the water at a safe distance from the pillars, said massicotte. the baltimore bridge appeared to lack such protection, he said.
“these are shock absorbers that you put around the pillars,” massicotte said. “they are not connected to the bridge, so when a ship veers off course and hits these absorbers, there is no direct contact with the structure.”
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.
“maybe with a more modern bridge, you wouldn’t have had the chain reaction that we saw,” malomo said. “the problem with these relatively old bridges is that they have not been designed to redistribute the load within the structure. whenever something that supports most of the load is gone, like the pillar in this case, then the structure suffers a progressive collapse.”
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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.”
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.
none of the three major st. lawrence seaway bridges overseen by the provincial transport ministry — in quebec city and trois-rivières — face collision-related risks, said transport quebec spokesperson louis-andré bertrand.
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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regular inspections are carried out to ensure the laviolette bridge remains safe, according to transport quebec. the most recent one, in 2023, determined that the existing rock protection is still adequate, bertrand said.
maintenance could be a factor in the baltimore tragedy, though it’s unclear how well maintained the key bridge was, said malomo.
“if a ship hits a bridge that’s already in bad condition, things are only going to get worse,” he said. “corrosion can be a problem due to the salt that is used in winter. salt and concrete are not a good mix.”
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