A look back at Bay Area's most impactful bridge disasters

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- With Baltimore now looking at years of recovery following the devastating collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge from container ship impact, here's a look at some of the Bay Area's most impactful incidents involving bridges.

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Video shows Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse after ship strike

2007 Cosco Busan incident

A container ship hit the Bay Bridge in heavy fog back in 2007, ripping open its hull and spilling tens of thousands of gallons of oil into the San Francisco Bay.

It had a major impact on the Bay Area ecosystem. Though no humans died, the crash and its aftermath killed thousands of birds and fish.

The bar pilot on that ship spent ten months in prison after investigators found he was traveling too fast and was on prescription drugs when the accident happened.

But that wasn't the worst bridge disaster in the Bay Area.

1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake - Cypress collapse

In 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake caused the Cypress Street Viaduct in Oakland to collapse, killing 42 people.

The double-decker freeway connecting I-880 to the Bay Bridge approach violently shook from the quake, bringing the upper deck crashing down onto cars on the lower deck.

VIDEO: From The Archive: ABC7's Peabody Award winning coverage of 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake

ABC7 News reporter Leslie Brinkley stands at the edge of a collapsed section of the San Francisco Bay Bridge after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.

A span of the Bay Bridge also collapsed during that quake, killing one person.

Structural engineer reacts to Baltimore

ABC7 News spoke to Kurt McMullin, professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at San Jose State, who says the bridge collapse in Baltimore reminded him of the old Bay Bridge.

WATCH: Bridging the Faults - The catastrophic fall and slow rise of the Bay Bridge after Loma Prieta

What it was like to drive on the Bay Bridge when Loma Prieta quake hit (1 of 6)

"Even a modern bridge is not going to be built to withstand what seems to be a direct hit from a major container ship," McMullin said. "In some way our bridges may do better, obviously on the East Coast they don't need to worry so much about earthquake effects as we do out here on the West Coast."

But he says Bay Area bridges, no matter how new, would still be vulnerable to the kind of hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge had.

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