The Key Bridge fell down. Now what?

It's just another adaptation to make.

It’s been over a week since a wayward cargo ship struck a support on the Francis Scott Key Bridge carrying I-695 around Baltimore, collapsing the steel structure like a house of cards and sending six bridge maintenance workers and untold others to a watery grave. While there were a couple fortunate folks rescued - not to mention the heroes who held traffic off the bridge when the ship’s operators called in a “mayday” - it wasn’t long before the rescue operation turned into a recovery operation and people in the region began to contemplate a new normal.

For example, traffic that used to use I-695 to reach the Port of Baltimore or that section of the metro area (like Dundalk, etc.) will now, for the foreseeable future, be forced into either a 30-mile detour around the remaining I-695 loop (for truck traffic) or be crammed onto two tunnels (I-95 or I-895) for regular traffic. Those who are using the road as a means of getting up and down the East Coast might be adding traffic on one of two much larger loops: crossing the Bay Bridge, which is U.S. 50/301 and following U.S. 301 north to Delaware Route 1 (or Route 896) to reach I-95, or doing what the drug dealers used to do: use U.S. 13 as an alternate by exiting I-95 in southern Virginia and looping around the Tidewater area to reach the Bay Bridge/Tunnel that connects U.S. 13 to the Eastern Shore of Virginia and the rest of the Delmarva.

On the shipping side, there are dozens of ships now bottled up in the Inner Harbor for weeks, if not months, before the wreckage is cleared and the ship which caused it all gets towed away. Hopefully you’re not waiting on something being shipped out of Baltimore Harbor, although it may end up being the case where merchandise currently on board these ships is unloaded back onto trucks or trains to continue its journey. Perhaps they can secure space on another ship in a nearby harbor, and once the way is cleared, new cargo can be loaded on the original ship.

It was interesting to me that Joe Biden basically took the shipper and its insurance company off the hook by insisting the federal government will pay for a new bridge. Just print some more money. Regardless, to me the question is just how they will proceed with that idea since a large part of the bridge (the concrete part) is actually still intact. And, now that we’ve had 50 years of technology and knowledge since the original FSK Bridge was built, would it be now possible to clear-span the opening as a suspension bridge, using the concrete portions as the supports? Heck, put mega-honkin’ supports up on shore for all I care: I’m an architect, not an engineer. But it seems like a problem that can be solved.

On the other hand, with the government in charge, will we have to waste time and money by adding pedestrian access and bike lanes to the new bridge? And will they keep the perfectly good name?

And it got me to thinking about going forward into the past. Before there was ever a Key Bridge, there was Sparrows Point and industrial development in Baltimore. I didn’t grow up in Baltimore to know this, but surely there were ways for traffic to get in and out, although they had to go in a roundabout manner. The I-695 beltway had been planned for decades and was completed by the Key Bridge, but it had been there for a few years without the bridge - all the traffic just had to go west to get around.

The point is: we will all survive and adapt. Life will go on, despite the temporary inconvenience: we’ll mourn the deceased and pray for their families, other ports will take up the slack and traffic will find new routes to get where they wish to go. Certainly the Key Bridge was a nice labor-saving device for those in the area (I think I had traveled over it once in my life, several years ago when I had a state convention up that way) and once it’s rebuilt, we will surely have a grand ribbon-cutting with every two-bit politician within 200 miles in attendance. But in the meantime, just take a deep breath and plan things accordingly.

I’m just surprised no one has blamed climate change yet.

Until next time, remember you can Buy Me a Coffee since I have a page there.