The Key Bridge’s replacement should be built by October 2028. While we may not know the final cost for the project or if it will bear Francis Scott Key’s name, the Maryland Transportation Authority has released some facts and figures about the redesign.
“The new bridge will be Maryland’s first highway cable-stayed bridge, constructed according to the most advanced industry standards and best infrastructure design practices,” the Key Bridge Rebuild website created by MDTA says.
With an expected lifespan of more than a century, the MDTA said the new bridge will be longer, taller and have more distance between its supports than the old Key Bridge, which collapsed into the Patapsco River in March when the freighter ship Dali lost power and crashed into a support pillar. Six construction workers on the bridge died.
The added length and height should create more clearance for large ships. The ever-increasing size of cargo ships was a potential challenge for the previous span, which was built in the 1970s. Where the old bridge had a vertical clearance of 185 feet, the new one will have a minimum 230 feet clearance between the water and the bridge deck.
The new bridge will be around 2 miles, adding 0.3 miles in length from Key Bridge’s 1.7 miles. The distance between the main supports will increase by about 400 feet, , from 1,209 feet to 1,600 feet.
The new bridge will have two 12-foot lanes in each direction, according to the website.
For those concerned about the impact a larger structure might have on Baltimore’s skyline, a FAQ on the Key Bridge Rebuild website said it should be comparable with the old bridge.
“While the replacement bridge will be taller and wider than the former Key Bridge, that bridge was also a large structure and the second longest bridge in the Baltimore metropolitan area,” it said. “Therefore, the visual impacts of the new structure are consistent with the previous visual landscape and are not expected to be significant.”
Some reconstruction work has already begun,, with crews collecting soil samples and conducting underwater mapping.
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