This week, WTOP’s team coverage of “The Key Bridge, One Year Later” revisits an unthinkable, tragic collapse that sent shockwaves around the nation and forever changed the face of Baltimore.
The new Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, will have a different appearance and provide a slightly different driving experience than the 1977 bridge which was struck on March 26, 2024, by the container ship Dali, causing much of the bridge to collapse into the Patapsco River.
“The old bridge was a truss design — a steel truss — I think the bridge was originally 1.7 miles long,” said Joseph DaVia, head of the regulatory branch at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which issued the permit to rebuild the Key Bridge.
As with the old bridge, the new Key Bridge will have two lanes in each direction.
“The new bridge is going to be what’s called a cable-stayed design,” said DaVia. “So, there’ll be an array of cables looped over two large navigational pylons, or piers, holding up the main bridge structure.”
The new bridge will be longer and higher, according to a fact sheet released by the Maryland Transportation Authority. While the old bridge had a vertical clearance of 185 feet, from the water to the bridge deck above the federal shipping channel, the new bridge will have a clearance of 230 feet.
“When you look at a project of this nature, you don’t plan for the next year or two,” said DaVia. “You plan for the next 50 or 100 years.”
Container ships are much larger than they were in the 1970s, when the Key Bridge was designed.
“There’s going to be larger ships that are going to be moving goods around the world, here through the Port of Baltimore,” said DaVia. “So, they’re lookin at a much higher clearance here for the new Francis Scott Bridge.”
The Key Bridge is projected to be completed in the fall of 2028.
“There will still be a limiting factor of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which is still 185 feet,” said DaVia. “So, these larger ships couldn’t come up to the new Key Bridge, until the Bay Bridge is replaced.”
The old bridge’s length was approximately 1.7 miles long — the new bridge is expected to be 2.4 miles in length.
“It’s going to be longer because they’re proposing it to be higher. To keep the same grade — I think it’s 4% going up the bridge and down the bridge on the other side — in order to go higher, you have to go longer,” said DaVia.
Some new safety features will be visible
The plans for the new Key Bridge will include safety features to head-off the chain-reaction disaster that occurred when the Dali struck the bridge last March.
“That’s where they would construct either rock islands, or rock fill, or ‘dolphins,’ which are large cylindrical structures that would be filled with concrete or rock,” said DaVia. “Or, some sort of a fender system around the piers, or a concrete collar, that would be designed to take the hit of a large ship like the Dali, and not have the pier come down.”
Once construction begins, crews will have to install a temporary construction trestle.
“That’s kind of a smaller bridge, to build the bridge,” said DaVia, which will extend from both the eastern and western shore of the Patapsco River.
“It’ll be a steel structure, about 10 feet above the water surface, and that’s where the contractor will place their cranes, equipment, and personnel to actually build the bridge,” said DaVia. “You’ll see this bridge being built first.”
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