Ship–Pier Collision Criteria for Critical Bridges: The Way Forward

The collapse of the Francis Scott Key (FSK) Bridge in Baltimore on March 26, 2024, presents an opportunity to evaluate US design guidance for addressing low-probability, high-consequence events involving essential bridge infrastructure. This paper reviews the development of vessel collision provisions, focusing on the progression of AASHTO guidelines from 1991 to the current 2009 edition, and compares them with international standards from Europe, China, Japan, Australia, and Canada. The underlying design philosophy for vessel collision is critically compared with established blast and seismic design approaches to assess adequacy and identify gaps. A representative case study is used to frame a critique of the current AASHTO provisions for critical bridges, and a framework is proposed to advance existing standards toward consequence-based, deterministic mandates for physical protection, leveraging modern data analysis and simulation tools.