Professor Samuel Labi joined a distinguished panel of speakers on “Lessons Learned from the Key Bridge Collapse – Enhancing Resilience in Critical Infrastructure Systems” at the University of Maryland (UMD) on May 22, 2024.

The event was hosted and organized by Professor Nii Attoh-Okine of UMD’s Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) with support of the Dean of the UMD School of Engineering (Samuel Graham) and the VP for Research (Greg Ball). The slate of distinguished speakers included NAE members Chris Hendrickson, Craig Philip, and Azad Madni, and Victor Lawrence, and Norma Mattei, former ASCE president and current member of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council which directly advises the President of the United States.

The subject of the roundtable was the collapse of the Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge which collapsed after it was struck by the container ship Dali on March 26, 2024.

Professor Labi spoke on transportation lessons and solutions associated with the disaster, including the cost of detours and bridge rebuilding. The event also discussed the potential roles of automated risk assessment and connectivity among entities (the physical infrastructure, owner, and transportation users) for faster and effective threat monitoring and deterrence.