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This story and visualization are part of our new “Data In Your Life” series, in which we mine public databases to tell quick stories about the world around us.
In the early hours of March 26, a 985-foot container ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, bringing a portion of the 1.6-mile-long bridge down in less than 40 seconds.
Although the Key Bridge might have fallen no matter its condition, the high-profile accident focused attention on bridge safety across the nation. The Federal Highway Administration maintains a public database of bridge ratings in every state. The ratings consider multiple parts of a bridge’s structure, including the deck, superstructure, substructure and culvert.
The federal government assigns three designations to rate the condition of bridges: Good, fair and poor. In 2023, the Key Bridge was in the “fair” group, along with about 49% of the country’s bridges. Another 44% are rated “good” and almost 7% are rated “poor.”
The ratings “good,” “fair” and “poor” are given based on assessments that consider many factors , according to information provided by the Federal Highway Administration. A bridge receiving a “poor” rating does not necessarily indicate it is unsafe to cross.
The state of Kentucky bridges
In Kentucky, 67.1% of the state’s thousands of bridges carry the “fair” rating.
About 7% of bridges in the commonwealth were rated as in “poor” condition as of 2023. The data does not include the commonly used names of the bridges.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s Bridge Maintenance and Preservation Branch coordinates structure inspections , determines weight limits, prepares repair contracts and more, according to its website.
The Key Bridge in Baltimore relied on piers, which were essential to its structural integrity.
Without sufficient protective barriers surrounding the piers, other bridge components couldn’t compensate for the missing support when the large container ship, called the Dali, crashed into one of the piers, The New York Times reported in March . Even with stronger protective barriers, it’s possible the bridge still wouldn’t have been able to withstand a hit from such a large ship.
Central service journalism editor Jackie Starkey contributed to this report.
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