Following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26 – which eventually forced its closure – Baltimore’s main shipping channel has been re-opened to its original depth and width. Re-opening happened after a big clean up that cleared an estimated 50,000 tons of steel and concrete from the Patapsco River.
On Monday, the US Army Corps of Engineers certified it as traversable, thereby authenticating that Fort McHenry Federal Channel had been returned to a depth of 50 feet and width of 700 feet. This reestablishes two-way traffic and eliminates any extra safety requirements due to the temporary narrowing down.
The bridge wreckage formed an obstruction on the channel leading into which container ship Dali crashed into one bridge support pillar after losing power. Six members of a road crew were killed in this incident all of whom were immigrants from Latin America who were working overnight to fill holes on the bridge.
Over 1,500 individual responders and five hundred international experts took part in this operation using a fleet of boats; additionally, there was participation by 56 federal, state and local agencies involved. They will also continue to perform surveys below / at / below mudline (the point where mud begins) at fifty feet with further removals involving moving wreckage to Sparrows Point for processing before dredging operations can be conducted later.
In April, FBI launched criminal investigations into this incident. According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Dali lost electricity multiple times before slamming into the key bridge including blackout during in-port maintenance and just before it collided. The Maryland state estimates costs between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion for rebuilding it with completion possibly taking place by autumn 2028.
