HOUSTON – Overnight in Baltimore, an almost unbelievable scenario played out, as the historic Francis Scott Key bridge collapsed like a house of cards.
The biggest question now: Could it happen in Houston?
The horrible accident was caused after a shipping freighter ran into one or more of the pillars—or legs holding up the bridge—sending at least eight people and several vehicles crashing down into the water.
Three large bridges service the Houston Ship Channel: The Fred Hartman Bridge, The 610/Ship Channel Bridge, and the Sam Houston Tollway Ship Channel Bridge. All three are far fewer than the Key Bridge in Baltimore.
According to the Houston Pilots Association, it’s not likely. Houston’s bridges are also built stronger—with stronger support legs or pillars that are anchored into the ground better.
In a statement sent to KPRC 2 Investigates Tuesday, the association says, “In Houston, we are fortunate to have excellent infrastructure that includes bridge legs that have large, underwater artificial islands that would protect the bridge from vessel impacts.”
Additionally, the United States Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Service keeps a 24-hour watch and gives non-stop guidance to ship pilots navigating the Houston Ship Channel.
The best way to describe it is it functions as sort of an air traffic control center for the waterways, Captain Keith Donohue is captain of the port and talks about what the vessel traffic service does to keep ships, bridges, and people safe 24/7, as well as what information they provide to ship captains or pilots.
“They are always on duty, telling pilots what other vessels are operating, at what speeds they are traveling, what direction they are traveling, what weather conditions are like, and what is coming, and they tell them how big the queue to get into the ship channel is,” Captain Donohue said.
If you are wondering, however, if a cargo ship has ever collided with a bridge in the Houston Ship Channel, it has. It happened in the 1990s when a crane operator aboard a cargo ship slammed part of that crane boom into the 610 bridges over the ship channel.