These events all happened within the first three months of this year – and all after collisions with large commercial ships. And a month earlier, a large cargo ship collided with the Zárate–Brazo Largo Bridges crossing the Prana River in Argentina, according to now-shuttered government-run news agency Télam – severely damaging the ship, though the bridge remained intact. By contrast, in the Baltimore example, the water channel and bridge are wide and tall enough to accommodate large vessels – and the cargo ship hit the bridge pier, not the bridge itself, Andrawes said. But even these measures can only do so much in the event of a large cargo ship collision, Mercogliano said, pointing to the Baltimore collapse. “And even when the ship hit those dolphins, the ship was so large it towered over them and actually struck the bridge itself.

---

Persons: Francis Scott Key, DALI, ”, Sal Mercogliano, Télam, Bassem, Andrawes, it’s, Mercogliano, Baltimore Steve Helber, there’s, Jerome Hajjar Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, University of Illinois, Sunshine Skyway, Coast Guard, Structural Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers Locations: Hong Kong, Baltimore, China, Argentina, Patapsco, Guangzhou, –, Largo Bridges, Urbana, Champaign, Florida