Federal officials initially declined to speculate about what caused the deadly collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge last year. After 18 months of analysis, though, they’re ready to share their comprehensive findings.

The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a public meeting about the calamity at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 18 at the agency’s conference center in Washington, D.C., according to a preview document published in the Federal Register.

NTSB meeting dates are often announced about a month ahead of time. This one, however, was revealed Tuesday, just ahead of a potential federal government shutdown.

The meetings, held in the case of severe incidents, often last several hours. Chair Jennifer Homendy and other board members will discuss probable cause and safety recommendations and ask questions of NTSB investigators.

In lawsuits, the state of Maryland and the federal government accused the ship’s owner and operator — Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Pte. Ltd. — of operating an “unseaworthy” and “jury-rigged” vessel. The companies’ attorneys have instead pointed the finger at Maryland, which owned the bridge.

The NTSB meeting is expected to provide an illuminating account of what went wrong and how such disasters can be avoided.

The Dali, a container ship weighing over 100,000 tons, departed the Port of Baltimore on March 26, 2024, before losing power and striking an integral support of the Key Bridge. It quickly collapsed and six construction workers, who had been filling potholes on the span, died.

Maryland Transportation Authority Police, warned of the ship’s loss of power by bay pilots aboard, blocked off traffic to the span, preventing additional deaths.

The NTSB has already published dozens of reports and interviews with crew members, as well as a transcript of dialogue on the ship.

Just before the collapse, pilots and crew scrambled to make last-ditch efforts, such as lowering an anchor, to prevent the collision. Crew members shouted for the anchor to be deployed more than a dozen times in 90 seconds.

“Holy [expletive]. Holy [expletive]. Holy [expletive],” one of the pilots said, seconds after the collapse.

The NTSB has also revealed that the ship had twice lost power the day before it departed.

In addition to analyzing the ship’s failures, the November meeting is also likely to explore how vulnerable the 47-year-old Key Bridge was.

During a March press conference, Homendy slammed the Maryland Transportation Authority and other bridge owners for not assessing the susceptibility of their spans to ship strikes. In response, the Maryland authority highlighted that it was taking efforts to protect the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

Meanwhile, about a dozen of the Dali’s crew members remain in the Baltimore area amid federal investigations and litigation. Barbara Shipley, the International Transport Workers’ Federation’s mid-Atlantic representative, texted with a couple of them Tuesday.

“They want to go home and be with their families,” she said.

The Key Bridge rebuild entered a new stage over the weekend as crews began to test the foundation.

Huge steel piles — 8 feet in diameter and 220 feet long — were fabricated in Texas and barged to Baltimore. The piles are driven into the riverbed and then checked to see how they respond to immense pressure.

The new bridge is estimated to cost just under $2 billion and be completed by October 2028, although state officials have cautioned that the price and timeline will soon be updated.

Although President Donald Trump’s administration has publicly sparred with Gov. Wes Moore, the federal government agreed to fully pay for the structure.