Earlier this week, the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, locally known as the Key Bridge, collapsed in the middle of the night. A large container ship attempting to pass beneath the bridge appeared to lose power and propulsion around 1:30am on March 26th. The crew lost control of the ship, and it struck one of the bridge’s support legs. In mere moments, the iconic 1.6-mile bridge was reduced to a huge pile of twisted metal and broken concrete in the Patapsco River.
I happened to wake up at 4am and decided to check the news on my phone. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The Key Bridge really collapsed? Is this true? I checked my Waze app, and reports confirmed what I saw. I turned on live news on the radio and TV and listened throughout the day. The whole nation was in shock.
Eight construction workers were working on the bridge at the time of its collapse. Two of them were rescued, but six others were unable to be located following the collapse. After a rescue mission failed to find them, the U.S. Coast Guard ended its search, and they have sadly been presumed dead. Luckily, a distress call was made from the ship prior to its crash, and it enabled officers to stop traffic across the bridge which certainly saved lives.
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
The Key Bridge has been an important piece of regional infrastructure since 1977, linking the I-695 Beltway into a loop over the Baltimore Harbor. It was one of three major Patapsco River crossings along with the Baltimore and Fort McHenry Tunnels. It has provided a route for trucks that were too large to fit through the tunnels and for those that were carrying hazardous materials.
Photo by Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Marine passage has stalled for the time being, and this disruption will likely affect the prices of many goods. The bridge’s remains will be extremely difficult to remove from the water, and the clean-up will no doubt be lengthy and costly. Water and highway traffic will be forced to take alternate routes for quite a while. I thought of doing some on-the-ground reporting from the scene this weekend, but I’ve used my better judgment to stay away while the experts get to work. Preliminary plans for reconstruction and funding are already underway. It is expected to take several years and to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, which means the project could easily exceed $1 billion. Only time will tell.
