Risk Mitigation and Update of Highway Bridge Design Guidance for Vessel Collisions

In 1991, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) adopted the Guide Specification and Commentary for Vessel Collision Design of Highway Bridges (GSVCD) as a result of the 1980 collapse of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and following a research project sponsored by 11 states and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The GSVCD requires that bridge structures be designed to minimize the risk of collapse after being struck by a ship. The second edition of the GSVCD (2009/current) was developed to incorporate lessons learned from the use of the 1991 GSVCD, incorporate the Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) methodology, clarify the risk procedure, and highlight evaluation of existing bridges using the revised GSVCD. On March 18, 2025, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued the report Safeguarding Bridges from Vessel Strikes: Need for Vulnerability Assessment and Risk Reduction Strategies in the wake of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse by ship collision. The report recommended evaluation of 68 bridges for risk of catastrophic collapse from vessel strikes and potential development of risk reduction plans. A recent workshop on “Large Ship Impacts on Bridge Piers” was organized by the City College of New York and the University of Michigan and attended by more than 700 engineers and researchers from around the world. The workshop provided extensive feedback from leading experts and engineers on needs and gaps in this area. Since the AASHTO GSVCD publication, a lot of research studies have been carried out nationally and internationally. The objective of the research is to identify needs and gaps for risk mitigation of large vessel or ship collisions and update the AASHTO GSVCD and the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications (LRFD BDS). The research will be based on the evolving state of practice, the growth of the shipping industry and data collection, the feedback from applying the existing Guide Specs and the LRFD BDS, and recent advancement of national and international research. The updated guidance will build on the existing design guidance and apply to new bridge design and existing bridge evaluation, risk assessment, bridge protection, and/or countermeasures and retrofit associated with risk of highway bridge vessel collision.

• Record URL:
  • http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=6047
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Proposed
• Funding: $800,000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 12-135

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Abu-Hawash, Ahmad

• Start Date: 20260608
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bridge design; Highway bridges; Load and resistance factor design; Risk management; Water transportation crashes
• Identifier Terms: AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Highways; Marine Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01992189
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 12-135
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Jun 9 2026 3:51PM