5 Philly area bridges flagged for collapse assessment

Federal officials recommended collapse risk investigations for a quintet of bridges in the Philadelphia area.

The National Transportation Safety Board released a list of 68 bridges in 19 states it believes should receive a "vulnerability assessment" after last year's Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster in Baltimore. Five bridges connecting the greater Philly area to New Jersey were named:

• Benjamin Franklin Bridge between Philly and Camden
• Betsy Ross Bridge between Philly and Pennsauken
• Commodore Barry Bridge between Chester and Bridgeport
• Delaware River Turnpike Bridge between Bristol and Burlington Township
• Walt Whitman Bridge between Philly and Gloucester City

The NTSB said it is not declaring these bridges as unsafe, but identifying the need to determine what risk, if any, a direct vessel impact similar to the one that brought down the Key Bridge would pose.

The recommendations come after a probe determined the Key Bridge had risk factors that were 30 times greater than the acceptable levels of risk before the March 2024 incident that brought the structure down and killed six workers. Maryland failed to assess the bridge, officials said.

Delaware's Saint Georges, Summit and Reedy Point bridges were also named, as were the Newark Bay Bridge in New Jersey, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge.