Francis Scott Key Bridge (Baltimore)

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The Francis Scott Key Bridge under construction in 1976

Sign for the Key Bridge used on approach roads

The Francis Scott Key Bridge (informally, Key Bridge or Beltway Bridge) was a highway bridge that crossed the lower Patapsco River and outer Baltimore Harbor/Port. It was opened on March 23, 1977, to carry the Baltimore Beltway (Interstate 695 or I-695) between Dundalk and Hawkins Point.

Initially named the Outer Harbor Crossing, the bridge was renamed in 1976 for poet Francis Scott Key, who wrote the lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner", the U.S. national anthem. At Template:Convert, it was the second-longest bridge in the Baltimore metropolitan area, after the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Its main span of Template:Convert was the third-longest of any continuous truss in the world.<ref name="Durkee">Durkee, Jackson, World's Longest Bridge Spans Template:Webarchive, National Steel Bridge Alliance, May 24, 1999.</ref>

Operated by the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA), the bridge was the outermost of three crossings of Baltimore's harbor, along with the Baltimore Harbor and Fort McHenry tunnels, all of which require tolls for passage. It carried an estimated 11.5 million vehicles annually, including trucks carrying hazardous materials prohibited in the tunnels. It completed the last gap in I-695's circuit of the city, although the bridge roadway was officially a state road: the unsigned Maryland Route 695.<ref name="Maryland State Highway Administration-2007 County">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Template:Dead link</ref><ref name="Maryland State Highway Administration-2005 City">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On March 26, 2024, the main span collapsed when a container ship struck one of its piers, killing six workers who were doing maintenance on the bridge at the time.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="ABC News 2024 partial">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A replacement bridge is under construction at the same location, while at the same time remnants of the old bridge are being removed. It is scheduled for completion by fall 2028.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

History

Construction

By the early 1960s, the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel (Interstate 895), the first crossing of Baltimore's Harbor, had reached its traffic capacity. The Maryland State Roads Commission concluded there was a need for a second harbor crossing.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They began planning another single-tube tunnel under the Patapsco River, downstream and to the southeast, between Hawkins Point and Sollers Point in the outer harbor. In October 1968, this Outer Harbor Tunnel project received financing through a $220 million bond issue (equivalent to $Template:Inflation billion in Template:Inflation/year) that also funded the twinning of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.<ref name="Ayres-1972">Template:Cite news</ref> But when the bids to build the tunnel were opened in July 1970, they were substantially higher than expected.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> So officials drafted alternative proposals, including a four-lane bridge, which had the advantage of providing a route across Baltimore Harbor for vehicles carrying hazardous materials barred from tunnels.<ref name="Jensen-1994">Template:Cite news</ref>

In April 1971, the Maryland General Assembly approved the bridge project.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The United States Coast Guard issued a bridge permit in June 1972, replacing the earlier approval of the tunnel by the Army Corps of Engineers.<ref name="Ayres-1972" /> Baltimore engineering firm J. E. Greiner Company was selected as the primary design consultant, with the side approaches being handled by New York City's Singstad, Kehart, November & Hurka in joint venture with Baltimore Transportation Associates, Inc. The construction was to be performed by the John F. Beasley Construction Company with material fabricated by the Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel Co.<ref name="American Institute of Steel Construction">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Construction of the Outer Harbor Bridge began in 1972,<ref name="Maryland Transportation Authority" /> several years behind schedule and $33 million over budget.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Each of the bridge's main piers—Nos. 17 and 18—was protected by dolphins upstream and downstream, each with a 25-foot-diameter sheet pile filled with tremie concrete with a reinforced concrete cap. These piers also had 17-foot fender system:Template:Sfn crushable thin-walled concrete boxes of 100 by 84.5 feet, clad with timber members and steel plate at the base.Template:Sfn

In 1976, as construction went on, the facility was named for Francis Scott Key, the author of "The Defence of Fort M'Henry", the poem upon which "The Star-Spangled Banner" is based.<ref name="mdtafacilitydedications">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Key was inspired to write the poem after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in September 1814.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Key had been aboard an American truce ship with the British Royal Navy fleet in Baltimore Harbor near Sollers Point; the approximate location is within Template:Convert of the bridge and marked by a buoy in the colors of the U.S. flag.<ref name="Maryland Transportation Authority">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Operation

The Key Bridge opened to traffic on March 23, 1977.<ref name="The Baltimore Sun-1977">Template:Cite news</ref> The bridge project was Template:Convert in length with Template:Convert of approach road.<ref name="The Baltimore Sun-1977"/> In 1978, the bridge received an Award of Merit from the American Institute of Steel Construction in the Long Span category.<ref name="American Institute of Steel Construction" /> In 1980, a cargo ship collided with the Key Bridge, but the bridge was relatively undamaged.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The bridge opened with four lanes, but its approaches were two lanes to reduce costs.<ref name="Jensen-1994"/> The south approach was widened in 1983. A project for the north approach was completed in 1999 after several years of delays.<ref name="Jensen-1994"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In July 2013, the toll for cars was $4. The bridge was part of the E-ZPass system and its toll plaza included two dedicated E-ZPass lanes in each direction. On October 30, 2019, the bridge's tolling went fully cashless; drivers paid via E-ZPass or video tolling.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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  Key Bridge with Baltimore in the background, viewed from Cox Creek Industrial Park, in northeast Anne Arundel County, November 2011
• 
  Key Bridge looking to the northeast with Sparrows Point and the Bethlehem Steel Corporation steel mill and shipyards of southeast Baltimore County in the distance, February 2018
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  thumbtime=1:53

Collapse

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Ten hours after the collapse, remnants of the bridge's superstructure and roadway rest on Dali's bow.

On March 26, 2024, at 01:28 EDT (05:28 UTC), the main spans of the bridge collapsed after the Singapore-registered container ship MV Dali lost power<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and collided with the southwest supporting pier of the main truss section.<ref name="WTOP News-2024">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The NTSB noted that the Key Bridge was built before the introduction of redundant support structures, which are widely used in modern bridges and would have prevented such a collapse.<ref name="Cox-2024a">Template:Cite news</ref>

Members of an eight-person maintenance crew working on the bridge are believed to be the only people injured or killed in the disaster. Six bodies were recovered<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and two people were rescued: one uninjured and the other transported to a hospital in critical condition.<ref name="Cox-2024b">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A mayday distress call sent by the ship's crew just before the collision led police and bridge workers to halt traffic onto the bridge, likely saving many lives.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The collapse, which blocked the Patapsco shipping channel, immediately halted almost all passenger and cargo shipping to the Port of Baltimore. Maryland Governor Wes Moore declared a state of emergency.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Economic losses were initially estimated at $15 million per day. Insurers were expected to incur multi-billion dollar losses for the damages, business disruptions, and liability claims.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Three temporary channels were opened by April 20, allowing about 15% of pre-collapse shipping to pass.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A temporary deep-draft channel was opened on April 25, allowing some larger ships to enter and leave,<ref name="Skene-2024">Template:Cite news</ref> then closed on April 29, enabling salvage crews to resume removing bridge wreckage.<ref>35-foot-deep temporary channel closes at Key Bridge collapse site, Jeffery Bozzi, April 29, 2024</ref>

In May, the authorities used explosives in order to remove the portions of the collapsed remnants of the bridge that lay atop the ship.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Replacement

Hours after the collapse, President Joe Biden said that the federal government would pay for the entire cost of reconstructing the bridge.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On May 2, 2024, Maryland Department of Transportation officials said they plan to replace the bridge by late 2028 at an estimated cost of $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion.<ref name="AP 5-2-2024">Template:Cite news</ref> The original bridge had cost $141 million to build ($Template:Format price today).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In August, the Maryland Transportation Authority awarded a contract to Kiewit Corporation of Omaha, Nebraska. Work on the new bridge was scheduled to start January 7, 2025, after the approval by Congress of the December 2024 continuing resolution which included $2 billion in funding.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Sources

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External links

• Official omnibus website of repair and salvage operations
• Maryland Transportation Authority, Francis Scott Key Bridge website
• Steve Anderson's DCroads.net: Francis Scott Key Bridge (I-695)
• Maryland Transportation Authority Key Bridge Rebuild Website
• Scott M. Kozel's roadstothefuture.com: Francis Scott Key Bridge (Outer Harbor Crossing)

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