Experts point out the lack of defenses on the pillars as the main weakness of the infrastructure knocked down by a cargo ship. A terrible accident in 1980 marked a before and after in the construction of bridges in the United States.

The Francis Scott Key in Baltimore, collapsed this week, had opened in 1977 and never incorporated adequate protections. The opinions of experts collected by EL PAÍS agree that this could have prevented the collapse of the bridge, which left six fatalities and an imposing economic bill. The ship that demolished the Baltimore bridge is almost 300 meters long and 48 meters wide.