Francis Scott Key Bridge (Baltimore)

The Francis Scott Key Bridge (informally, Key Bridge or Beltway Bridge) was a steel arch continuous through truss bridge that spanned the lower Patapsco River and outer Baltimore Harbor/Port. Opened on March 23, 1977, it carried the Baltimore Beltway ( Interstate 695 or I-695) between Dundalk and Hawkins Point. It collapsed on March 26, 2024, after a container ship struck one of its piers. Officials have announced plans to replace the bridge by fall 2028.

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 , it was the second-longest bridge in the Baltimore metropolitan area, after the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Its main span of was the third-longest of any continuous truss in the world.Durkee, Jackson
World's Longest Bridge Spans
, National Steel Bridge Alliance, May 24, 1999.

Operated by the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA), the bridge was the outermost of three toll crossings of Baltimore's harbor, along with the Baltimore Harbor and Fort McHenry tunnels. 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.

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. 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 $ billion in ) that also funded the twinning of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. But when the bids to build the tunnel were opened in July 1970, they were substantially higher than expected. 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.

In April 1971, the Maryland General Assembly approved the bridge project. 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. 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.

Construction of the Outer Harbor Bridge began in 1972, several years behind schedule and $33 million over budget. 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: crushable thin-walled concrete boxes of 100 by 84.5 feet, clad with timber members and steel plate at the base.

In 1976, as construction went on, the bridge 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. Key was inspired to write the poem after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in September 1814. 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 of the bridge and marked by a buoy in the colors of the U.S. flag.

Operation

The Key Bridge opened to traffic on March 23, 1977. The bridge project was in length with of approach road. In 1978, the bridge received an Award of Merit from the American Institute of Steel Construction in the Long Span category. In 1980, a cargo ship collided with the Key Bridge, but the bridge was relatively undamaged.

The bridge opened with four lanes, but its approaches were two lanes to reduce costs. The south approach was widened in 1983. A project for the north approach was completed in 1999 after several years of delays.

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.

File:KeyBridge.Baltimore.MD.jpg, Key Bridge with Baltimore in the background, viewed from Cox Creek Industrial Park, in northeast Anne Arundel County, November 2011 to the south
File:Francis Scott Key Bridge Eastern View.jpg, 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
File:Crossing the Key Bridge (Baltimore).webm, Driving on the inner loop (westbound) across the bridge, November 2023, thumbtime=1:53

Collapse

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 and collided with the southwest supporting pier of the main truss section. 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.

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 and two people were rescued: one uninjured and the other transported to a hospital in critical condition. 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.

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. Economic losses were initially estimated at $15 million per day. Insurers are expected to incur multi-billion dollar losses for the damages, business disruptions, and liability claims.

Three temporary channels were opened by April 20, allowing about 15% of pre-collapse shipping to pass. A temporary deep-draft channel was opened on April 25, allowing some larger ships to enter and leave, then closed on April 29, enabling salvage crews to resume removing bridge wreckage.

In May, the authorities used explosives in order to remove the portions of the collapsed remnants of the bridge that lay atop the ship.

Replacement

Hours after the collapse, President Joe Biden said that the federal government would pay for the entire cost of reconstructing the bridge. 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. The original bridge had cost $141 million to build, which is approximately $743 million in 2024 dollars.

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.

References

Sources

*

External links

Official omnibus website of repair and salvage operations


* ttp://www.dcroads.net/crossings/key-MD/ Steve Anderson's DCroads.net: Francis Scott Key Bridge (I-695)
Maryland Transportation Authority Key Bridge Rebuild Website

{{Portal bar, Transport, Maryland, Baltimore

Francis Scott Key Bridge (Baltimore)
1977 establishments in Maryland
2024 disestablishments in Maryland
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Bridges completed in 1977
Bridges in Baltimore
Bridges on the Interstate Highway System
Collapsed buildings and structures in the United States
Continuous truss bridges in the United States
Baltimore truss bridges
Crossings of the Patapsco River
Dundalk, Maryland
Francis Scott Key
Hawkins Point, Baltimore
Interstate 95
Road bridges in Maryland
Steel bridges in the United States
Toll bridges in Maryland
Tolled sections of Interstate Highways
Demolished buildings and structures in Baltimore
Sparrows Point, Maryland