National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said it will "take time to dig through" whether the Francis Scott Key Bridge has ever been flagged for any safety deficiencies.
Homendy at a news conference pointed to the agency's recent investigation of the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse in Pittsburgh in 2022, which "took almost two years to get information" on bridge inspections and whether or not records existed, she said.
"It's a very cumbersome process," Homendy added. "It's a very meticulous process where they have to dig through a lot of information, so it will not be something that we will be able to verify well on."
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore during an earlier news conference said that the now-collapsed Baltimore bridge was "fully up to code" and had no structural issues.