Current Events:  The Key Bridge Collapse, as of 6:30pm on March 26, 2024. 

Talk about a “black swan”!

There has been non-stop news coverage on local Baltimore TV stations since I got up this morning.  Here’s what I’ve gleaned, so far.  Not clear how much will make it on to national news.

8 construction workers were repairing potholes on the bridge.  From Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala.  Their citizenship status was not reported.  When the bridge collapsed, the workers were on a break, which they typically took in their vehicles.  1 refused medical treatment and is apparently OK, 1 was med-evac’ed to the University of Maryland Hospital Shock Trauma unit in Baltimore City (a tremendous asset for the region) and has been released, 6 are missing.  Divers are searching until nightfall.

Traffic on the bridge was stopped very soon after a MAYDAY was received from the ship.  But it is still not reported if there were other vehicles on the bridge.

Ships, at least temporarily, can’t get into or out of the Port of Baltimore.  The Port is huge.  Coal exports, sugar imports (Baltimore’s iconic Domino Sugar), vehicle imports, containers. 

The Key Bridge is part of the Baltimore Beltway (I695), at about 4:30 on a clock face.  It and 2 tunnels under the harbor handle north-south traffic (think the I95 corridor).  The tunnels don’t handle oversized vehicles and vehicles carrying hazardous materials (e.g., propane).  I needed to run an errand 10 miles south of Baltimore at 4:30pm, rush hour.  Traffic, normally bad, was terrible.

When I sail from the Downtown Sailing Center on the Inner Harbor, we often sail out to the Key Bridge and back.