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full screen The steel bridge Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after a collision with a ship. Archive image. Photo: Matt Rourke/AP/TT
The bridge collapse in Baltimore has shocked the whole world. The risk of a similar event in Sweden is almost non-existent, according to Raied Karoumi, professor of bridge construction.
– The risk of an airplane crashing into the Öresund Bridge is probably greater than a collision with a ship, he says.
The steel Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore was destroyed after a collision with a container ship from the Danish shipping company Mærsk.
Raied Karoumi has not seen any similar accident.
– This huge ship hit the most sensitive point of the bridge in the middle of the dot where it looks like impact protection has been missing. That probability is very small, he says and continues:
– This bridge is also located at one of the busiest container ports in the USA. The fact that security has not been thought through is very strange.
Raied Karoumi believes that safety is prioritized in a completely different way in Sweden and therefore emphasizes the risk of a similar bro race as minimal.
– The risk is always there, but a large part of that risk has been removed as we have learned. The most common is that bridges have impact protection. In areas where larger ships pass, traffic has also been diverted to minimize the risk.
Raied Karoumi mentions the Öresund Bridge and the Öland Bridge as two examples.
– In both places it is very shallow around the bridge piers. A ship would probably run aground before a collision.
The Öresund Bridge turns into a tunnel on the Danish side. According to Raied Karoumi, larger ships can therefore pass over the tunnel.
– You don’t even want them to drive under the bridge.