Maryland officers unveil design for brand spanking new Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore after previous span collapsed in 2024. Cable-stayed bridge to revive necessary I-695 connection by means of fall 2028, supporting Port of Baltimore and Northeast Hall. $15 million funding in Tradepoint Atlantic complements regional financial enlargement and task introduction.
Key Bridge Rebuild rendering
Md. officers unveiled the brand new design for Baltimore’s new Francis Scott Key Bridge on Feb. 3, nearly a yr after a container send slammed into the previous span.
Md. officers unveiled the brand new design for Baltimore’s new Francis Scott Key Bridge on Feb. 3, 2025, nearly a yr after a container send slammed into the previous span, sending it tumbling into the Patapsco River and killing six employees within the procedure.
“It is a nice day for Maryland,” stated Gov. Wes Moore because the design was once published. “However it isn’t misplaced on me that as of late’s triumph was once born out of tragedy.”
Renderings of the brand new construction display a hovering cable-stayed bridge to exchange the previous metal truss bridge that was once destroyed within the early hours of March 26, 2024, when the container send Dali slammed into the span.
As soon as it’s constructed — the contractor predicts the bridge may just open in fall 2028 — the brand new construction would be the first cable-stayed bridge within the state and repair I-695/Baltimore Beltway, a big connection between Dundalk and Baltimore. The highway is also a idea business path at the East Coast.
The lack of the bridge disrupted provide chains and close down a highway utilized by greater than 30,000 cars an afternoon, and which collects $56 million in tolls in line with yr, Maryland Issues reported.
“This directive is not about nostalgia, it is about necessity, as a result of you’ll’t have an absolutely functioning Port of Baltimore … with out the Key Bridge,” Moore stated all the way through the bridge design’s debut match at Tradepoint Atlantic, now not a long way from the remnants of the destroyed construction.
The governor additionally introduced an funding of $15 million in Tradepoint Atlantic’s terminal container challenge, which is predicted to extend container capability on the complicated by means of 70 %. That challenge is predicted to generate up to $1 billion in non-public investments and create as much as 8,000 jobs.
Rebuilt Key Bridge Essential to Northeast Hall
The brand new Key Bridge will raise 4 lanes, with two in every route. As well as, Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld stated the rebuilt bridge will supply 230 toes. of clearance for ships passing beneath, when compared with the previous span’s clearance top of 185 toes.
He characterised the design unveiling as a “vital milestone on our trail to make the Baltimore area and the necessary Northeast hall complete once more.”
“The Port [of Baltimore] is an financial driving force for all of Maryland and the country,” he stated, noting that the brand new construction will likely be “a running bridge for a running town,” despite the fact that its designs don’t seem to be absolutely finalized.
Now that the preliminary plans and renderings had been published, the next move within the bridge’s development is razing what stays of the previous construction, consistent with Moore. Demolition is predicted in spring 2025 and development will start in a while after, he stated.
Preconstruction operations have already got begun, comparable to gathering soil samples and mapping subsurface waterways, the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) introduced in January 2025.
Additionally in January 2025, the Maryland Board of Public Works licensed a $75 million contract to rent 3 companies that can oversee development control services and products at the challenge beneath the identify Bridging Maryland Partnership. The crowd will oversee paintings by means of the challenge contractor, Kiewit Infrastructure Co., to make sure that “the speeded up design and development procedure stays on the right track,” consistent with MDTA.
“Maryland is a bridge between The usa and the remainder of the sector,” Moore added. “Trade and business are the bedrock of our state. And we can proceed to invest that honor our custom. We nonetheless have paintings to do, however this can be a essential step ahead.”
