MD hopes to pick all new Key Bridge contractors by spring 2027

After parting ways with the contractor once expected to build the new Francis Scott Key Bridge, Maryland is aiming to select four replacement contractors by late next spring.

Disagreements over cost compelled the state to break ties in April with the Kiewit Corp., the large Nebraska-based firm that designed the new bridge, and split the construction project into four separate parts.

“It enables us to have more competition among contractors,” said Jim Harkness, chief engineer for the Maryland Transportation Authority, during a news conference at the bridge site Wednesday. “It also gives us the benefit to encourage and expand opportunities for our local workforce.”

So far, the state has opened two of the four contracts to new bidders, including the largest one, which will cover the main span of the bridge running over the Patapsco River. The state isn’t expecting to award that contract — which has an estimated value between $3.5 billion and $4 billion — until next spring.

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The state advertised another, much smaller contract Tuesday, for the demolition of several remaining bridge structures, both in the water and over land, which is valued at $50 to $100 million. That work could start before the end of this year.

The final two contracts will cover the portions of the bridge that will be built over land, approaching the river from the north and south sides of the river. Both are currently valued between $200 and $400 million.

Rising cost estimates and shifting timelines for the bridge have been points of tension between Gov. Wes Moore and President Donald Trump at various times during Trump’s second term. After the bridge collapsed due to a ship strike in 2024, killing six construction workers, the federal government pledged to fund its replacement.

The state initially hoped to complete the new span in 2028. Currently, the goal is for the bridge to open to traffic by the end of 2030, Harkness said.

“We have to wait for our proposals to come in. We still have a goal of the end of 2030,” Harkness said. “Ultimately, we need those proposals to tell us what they can build it in.”

Key Bridge: Everything you need to know

Though Kiewit will not be building the new bridge, its crews remain on site, continuing to drive massive 8-foot-wide piles into the riverbed, which will serve as a foundation for the new bridge, and for its new protection system against ship strikes.

Kiewit is also building a large pier over the river — called a trestle — for construction workers, vehicles and cranes to access the bridge site. The southern portion of the walkway is complete, allowing crews to walk or drive onto the worksite from the shoreline at Fort Armistead Park.

When all is said and done, some 104,000 square feet of timber will form the deck for the trestle, and it will be supported by 35,000 linear feet of steel piles, said Brian Wolfe, director of project development at the transportation authority.

Christine Condon covers state politics with a focus on environmental and energy issues for Maryland Matters.

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