Post wrongly suggests Baltimore's Key Bridge, other US bridges damaged same day | Fact check

Andre Byik, USA TODAY
·3 min read

The claim: Post implies three 'major' US bridges were damaged on March 26, 2024

A March 29 Facebook video (direct link, archive link) shows a cargo ship near the wreckage of a collapsed bridge.

"Wow what are the chances," the video's caption reads. "1. Baltimore Bridge Maryland. 2. ValleyView Bridge Ohio. 3. Indian River Bridge Delaware. 3 Major Bridges In 1 Day 03/26/24. America I Hope your Eyes are wide open!"

Some social media users appeared to take the video as evidence that all three bridges sustained damage on the same day.

"Note to President Biden ad (sic) company," one user wrote. "WE should not have to pay to rebuild these bridges. It was preplanned. It was an attack."

Another user wrote, "3 taller bridges will be built allowing today's bigger ships into port. Those ports will profit from this."

The post was shared 1,400 times in four days.

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Our rating: Missing context

The implied claim here is wrong. While Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after being hit by a cargo ship on March 26, transportation officials in Ohio and Delaware said the bridges in those states were not damaged.

Bridges in Ohio, Delaware not damaged in March 26 incidents

Matt Bruning, a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Transportation, said the Interstate 480 Valley View Bridge sustained "absolutely no damage" in a fire that local news outlets reported broke out at a nearby landscape facility on March 26.

"The fire was in a mulch pile near the bridge, but not under it," Bruning said in an email.

The landscape company, Kurtz Bros. Inc., said in a Facebook post that it "experienced a spontaneous combustion situation with our raw wood products" at its production facility on Canal Road in Valley View, which is south of Cleveland.

Fact check: No, the Dali was not controlled remotely when it crashed into Key Bridge

Robin Bryson, a spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Transportation, said the Indian River Inlet Bridge was not damaged on March 26, when local news outlets reported ocean waves breached the dunes north of the bridge and spilled onto Coastal Highway. The bridge is in Sussex County, in southern Delaware.

"Northbound Delaware Route 1 was closed for several hours last week because the dunes were breached and water and sand covered the northbound lane of the roadway," Bryson said in an email.

USA TODAY has debunked an array of false claims involving the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, including that the bridge was shown in the Netflix movie "Leave the World Behind," that the collapse was a "false flag" operation and that dynamite detonated on the bridge.

The Facebook user who shared the video did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Post wrongly implies Ohio, Delaware bridges were damaged | Fact check