The Aftermath of Baltimore’s Key Bridge Collapse

Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, after an errant cargo ship smashed into it, plunging cars and people into the water.

The deadly collapse, which killed at least six people—all part of a construction crew fixing potholes on site—led to the closure of the busy Port of Baltimore.

Video footage from the incident shows the bridge crumbling instantly after the container ship, Dali, hit one of its pillars around 05:30 GMT on Tuesday.

The cargo ship, which was chartered by A.P. Moller – Maersk, appeared to lose power twice as it travelled down the channels, and its speed fell to 15km/hr., which is still fast enough to cause major damage in the case of a collision.

Several vehicles on the bridge plunged into the waters of River Patapsco, and hours later the Coast Guard announced at least six people were presumed dead.

Two people were rescued from the water following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, one in a serious condition and the other seemingly unharmed, officials said.

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However, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Tuesday evening that six others likely perished due to cold water temperatures and hours spent under the surface.

“This is an unthinkable tragedy,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg posted on Twitter early Tuesday. “Our focus should be the preservation of life.”

The Port of Baltimore remains indefinitely closed to ships, with President Joe Biden pledging full federal funding for the reconstruction of the bridge.

Overview of the bridge

The Francis Scott Key Bridge is a four-lane, 2.6-km bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, US, spanning the Patapsco River. It connects the city to Anne Arundel County communities such as Sparrows Point and Fort Howard.

Often referred to as Key Bridge, Francis Scott Key Bridge is a major transport hub for the U.S. East Coast and the entry point to the Port of Baltimore.

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The bridge is named after Francis Scott Key, a 19th-century Maryland poet who wrote the words for the U.S. national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner.

Described as a continuous truss bridge, it boasted a main span of 1,200ft, ranking as the world’s third longest among bridges of this type.

Style of the bridge

Key Bridge is a metal truss-styled bridge with a suspended deck, a design that contributed to its total collapse after a ship hit a main concrete pier.

“This type of bridge is not designed to redistribute loads in the event of a main pier collapsing and therefore videos show there is a progressive collapse of the bridge in which one element fails after another,” Marina Bock, a structural engineering lecturer at Aston University in England, commented.

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History of the bridge

Construction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge began in 1972, and the facility opened to vehicles on March 23, 1977, according to official records.  

It was built by the Maryland Transportation Authority, for $60.3 million at the time, to enhance connectivity across the Patapsco River in Baltimore.

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