The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in March launched national probes into reinforcing the country’s infrastructure, but one need not look far to find an essential span recently in need of pier protection improvements.

In multiple locations on the eastbound span of the iconic Chesapeake Bay Bridge — the original of the structure’s two spans, which opened in 1952 — the “pier protection is deteriorated, detached, and missing,” according to the most recent official inspection of the bridge. The inspection, completed in June 2023, was obtained by The Baltimore Sun from the Maryland Transportation Authority last month following a Maryland Public Information Act request in March.

Some timber fenders — which provide a barrier of protection from watercraft along bridge supports — are in “poor condition” according to the report, and “steel and timber sheeting is missing” from some fenders, too.

“The Bay Bridge inspection reports highlight certain items that are consistent with the expected wear and tear for the facility over time,” the transportation authority said in a statement Thursday to The Sun.

“These findings are typical for structures of this age and type and are promptly repaired through MDTA’s routine maintenance and preservation work, which is performed daily. MDTA remains committed to ensuring the safety and integrity of its bridges and will continue to monitor and perform necessary upkeep to maintain their optimal condition.”

Whether or not fenders are weak, however, would not necessarily impact the risk of calamity to the Bay Bridge. Fendering provides little, if any, protection from large ships, but instead offers a cushion for sailboats, pleasure crafts and other small vessels, protecting those boats and offering a degree of fortification for the bridge piers themselves.

The 4.3-mile structure, which carries up to 90,000 vehicles per day during summer months, has no substantial pier protection built to prevent a large, errant ship from striking the thoroughfare.

Such a scenario remains unlikely, though. Last year alone, 3,225 ships over 150 meters (492 feet) sailed under the bridge, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins researchers, without incident and in previous decades dozens of thousands of ships have safely made the transit. But the demise of the Key Bridge, which was knocked down by the Dali cargo ship on March 26, killing six construction workers, blocking the shipping channel and prompting dozens of lawsuits, has focused efforts nationally and locally on preventing catastrophe.

This summer, the Maryland Transportation Authority said it was exploring efforts to boost the Bay Bridge with pier protection. The initial budget for the project was $145 million and the expected timeline by winter 2027-28.

An authority spokesperson declined Thursday to provide an update regarding the status of that project and what specific pier protection measures it might include, saying “we are currently in the study and concept development phase.” Any project would be covered by the authority’s capital program.

The Bay Bridge, like other structures, is federally required to be inspected every two years and the eastbound span’s most recent inspection began in August 2022 and concluded in June 2023, resulting in a 252-page report. (The newer, westbound span was inspected from September 2022 to May 2023 and resulted in a 75-page report.)

“Independent, certified, and nationally experienced engineering firms inspect all MDTA bridges, tunnels, roadways, lighting, and signage annually. MDTA then issues work orders to address priority repairs and program projects to address preservation needs,” the authority said.

The inspections were completed using “snoopers” — vehicles designed to lower an inspector underneath a bridge’s deck — and a lift mounted on a barge to analyze elements of the superstructure. As part of the inspections, lanes of the bridge were closed, including some full bridge nighttime closures.

The vast majority of the areas studied on both spans were found to be in “satisfactory condition,” but the inspection noted some necessary improvements. For example, in addition to issues with fendering, some of the eastbound span’s pier caps — which connect the superstructure to the piers — had cracks in them, and removing “pigeon debris” from portions of the bridge was listed as another defect to be addressed.

Separate from the inspection, the transportation authority has begun a $140 million project to replace the deck (the driving surface) of the eastbound span.

The newer of the Bay Bridge’s two spans opened more than 50 years ago, in 1973, before constructing bridges with vessel collision in mind was mandated by a national bridge code. The Key Bridge, which opened in 1977, also was not required to be fortified from the threat of a ship, but it still had a measure of protection in the form of four concrete “dolphins” — artificial islands filled with sand or water and designed to serve as bumpers. Those dolphins, however, ultimately proved insufficient; modern systems often utilize a dozen or more dolphins, which are several times larger in area.

Although fenders are not designed to prevent a large ship collision, they are still important, because they protect smaller crafts — which, if damaged, could present safety issues — and mitigate superficial damage to piers.

“There are plenty of smaller vessels in the Chesapeake,” said Rachel Sangree, a Johns Hopkins engineering professor who is part of a team studying the vulnerability of bridges nationwide. “Missing fenders likely present a greater threat to those smaller boats than to the piers themselves.”

The looming, more consequential question, though, is whether the Bay Bridge is adequately protected from a large vessel hitting it. In August, a 946-foot vessel named the Denebola experienced a steering issue as it neared the Bay Bridge, prompting a harbor pilot aboard to request traffic be stopped on the spans. The risk level was low and the ship transited under the bridge safely, but it, paired with the Key Bridge collapse, highlighted the potential danger of a ship hitting the bridge.

At least one of the Bay Bridge’s spans will ultimately — perhaps in the next 20 years — be replaced with a modern structure, one that will certainly meet the updated bridge code for pier protection. But in the meantime, the state is considering adding physical fortifications.

Michael Knott and Mike Winters, two experts on vessel collision, gave an engineering presentation in August sponsored by Florida International University entitled, “General Overview of Vessel Collision Risk Analyses.” Knott noted that any structure in a waterway is at some risk of ultimately being hit, whether in a minor or a major way.

“I often say if you build it, it will be hit,” said Knott, who was one of the principal authors of the vessel collision portion of the federal bridge code.

Vessel collisions were historically considered to be “acts of God,” Knott and Winters’ presentation said, but after two deadly collapses in 1980 — one in Tampa and one in Sweden — efforts began to build bridges to withstand or avoid ship strikes. By 1991, consideration for vessel collision was added to the U.S. bridge code (a nearly 2,000-page document).

Existing bridges, like the Bay Bridge, were not required to follow those guidelines and, thus, are more susceptible, compared to modern peers, to vessel collision.

When Baltimore Gas & Electric placed transmission towers carrying power lines across the Patapsco River in 2022, the base of the towers was protected with vessel collision protection rings — a degree of fortification that the Bay Bridge, as a product of the mid-20th century, does not have.

The best way to protect a bridge from ship strike is to consider that threat from the outset. With that in mind, a bridge could be built with a wide main span — placing piers far from the shipping channel — or with other protections in place. Retrofitting an existing span with pier protection measures can be expensive, and Knott said in his presentation that one dolphin can cost $10 million, meaning if you add 10 of them, which is not uncommon, the bill can be “$100 million without blinking an eye.”

“There are no cheap alternatives,” Knott said. “They’re all going to cost money.”