Key Bridge disaster – one year later

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I remember waking up on the morning of March 26, 2024, hearing a radio news report that I found incomprehensible. I immediately turned to see images of the unfolding disaster – and it was still incomprehensible. The Frances Scott Key Bridge, having been struck by a container ship, could not withstand the impact and had collapsed into the Patapsco River.

The immediate effects of this tragedy were soon known. Six men who had been making repairs on the bridge’s roadway plummeted to their deaths and another was injured, as was one working on the container ship, MV Dali. The ongoing effects on local communities and the regional economy would be understood as the weeks and months rolled on.

The bridge had stood as an iconic landmark, informally separating the waters of the Inner Harbor from the vast expanse of water that is the Chesapeake Bay. My chances to experience the Key bridge up close and personal would have been on multiple occasions with professional colleagues as we traveled under the great structure as part of a harbor tour. It may have been only one time that I drove over the bridge, which when it opened to traffic in 1977 completed the Baltimore Beltway as part of Interstate-695.

While I did not make use of the bridge in my travels around the area, many did. Before the collapse, an estimated 34,000 vehicles traveled across the bridge daily. Within this total there were a significant number of commercial vehicles, including those carrying hazardous materials which could not be allowed in either of the harbor tunnels. In 2023, the Key Bridge carried an annual total of 12.4 million passenger and commercial vehicles.

In an analysis of the impact on regional traffic six months into the new normal, the Baltimore Metropolitan Council found that area traffic congestion along certain major highway corridors had increased by at least 25% since the collapse of the Key Bridge. As those who travel on these roadways know, the traffic arteries bearing the greatest brunt of the new travel patterns are the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel and Fort McHenry Tunnel. The BMC report on congestion data showed that with traffic having been diverted to the remaining harbor crossings, “northbound travel times through both tunnels are up an average of almost 200% and 100% respectively”.

The bridge collapse of course also had immediate effects on commerce through the Port of Baltimore and the broader regional economy. With its enormous steel trusses, concrete abutments and roadway material, a total of 50,000 tons of wreckage, blocking entrance to maritime piers, no commercial vessels could enter or leave the port. Ten container vessels already in port were trapped.

The Port of Baltimore has historically been a cornerstone of the regional and state economies. A 2018 study commissioned by the Maryland Port Administration found that the port accounted for about 15,300 direct jobs and 22,000 indirect and induced jobs. It generated $3.3 billion in personal income and $2.6 billion in business income. But there were broader ripple effects. The U.S. Department of Labor estimated that 270,000 workers were directly or indirectly impacted. There was a daily loss of $192 million in economic activity.

Baltimore is the 8th leading port in the U.S. by tonnage and 7th leading port by value of cargo. Its cargo covers a wide range of products and commodities, including roll on/roll off cargo, in the form of farm equipment and passenger cars, lumber and coal. For years, Baltimore has had a preeminent role in the importing of automobiles. The port has been the leading exporter of coal. With the disruption of supply chains, nationally and globally, the Port of Baltimore ran the risk of losing long-established markets to competing East Coast ports.

With a truly amazing example of intergovernmental collaboration, led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Maryland Port Administration, the port was once again opened to commercial traffic in just 76 days.

The next chapter of the story is the design and construction of a new bridge crossing. Many readers may have seen images of the replacement bridge, a stunning design consisting of a cable-stayed bridge with central support cables. It would have a central span of 2,300 feet and rise 230 feet above the shipping channel, about 45 feet higher than the previous span. It is projected to be built and open to traffic by the end of 2028 at a cost approaching $2 billion.

Another amazing example of intergovernmental collaboration will have to be on the horizon to see that the proposed replacement bridge becomes a reality. That would require that the 100 percent funding for the new bridge, as passed by Congress in 2024, is still honored in the years going forward.

Joe Nathanson is the retired principal of Urban Information Associates, a Baltimore-based economic and community development consulting firm. Since 2001, he has written a monthly column for The Daily Record and can be contacted at [email protected]