Key Bridge collapse update expected Thursday as crash nears a year

CBS News

20-03-2025

The National Transportation Safety Board will give an update on the investigation into the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Thursday as we near the one-year mark.
On March 26, 2024, the container ship Dali lost power before crashing into the bridge, killing six construction workers who were knocked into the Patapsco River.
The NTSB's investigation to this point has focused on a
series of power failures on Dali
as it departed the Port of Baltimore. The report revealed the ship experienced four outages in a span of less than 12 which left the ship unable to maneuver and avoid the bridge.
The preliminary NTSB report outlined the events leading up to the Dali striking the Key Bridge.
The report revealed that the Dali initially lost power on March 25, 2024, during in-port maintenance, about 10 hours before leaving the Port of Baltimore. Vessel power was restored before a second blackout in-port followed, according to the NTSB report.
The vessel departed from the Seagirt Marine Terminal at the Port of Baltimore shortly after 12:30 a.m. en route to Colombo, Sri Lanka, carrying 4,680 containers.
The captain reported that the ship was in "good working order" and was assisted by two tugboats.
The ship then lost electrical power and experienced another blackout. The main propulsion diesel engine shut down automatically after the pumps lost electrical power, meaning the vessel's propeller stopped.
The Dali crew again restored electrical power.
The ship's crew called for tug assistance and the senior pilot ordered the anchor to be dropped. Then, a fourth blackout happened, according to the report.
A marine radio call was made to warn all waterborne traffic before the cargo vessel crashed into the central truss spans of the Key Bridge around 1:29 a.m.
Earlier this month, the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
issued its permit decisions which granted the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) permission to rebuild the Key Bridge.
Some of the permissions include specific parameters for dredging in the water, modifications and discharging any dredged or fill material.
In-water construction of the new bridge, which will connect the I-695 Baltimore Beltway, is expected to begin in the fall of 2024, but that will also require similar permit verification from the U.S. Coast Guard.
The rebuild is expected to be completed by fall 2028. Kiewit Infrastructure estimated that the project will cost about $2 billion.
"Less than one year after the catastrophic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, Baltimore District is proud to have provided fair and efficient permitting efforts to enable the construction of a new bridge," Baltimore District Commander Col. Francis Pera said. "To have both removed the bridge wreckage and issued relevant permits for its reconstruction on this timetable is a testament to our dedicated Regulatory Branch and our mission to support an energetic economy across the Mid-Atlantic."
For about two months, the MDTA has been working on
pre-construction activities
around the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which involves gathering data about the riverbed and soil sampling.
In February 2025, the MDTA authorized three contracts for the Key Bridge reconstruction, which are for construction management and inspection services worth $20 million each.
The Maryland Board of Public Works approved contracts with Greenman-Pederson, Inc./Gannett Fleming, Inc.; Michael Baker International, Inc./STV, Inc.; and AECOM Technical Services, Inc.
The consulting teams will oversee various aspects of the reconstruction, including constructability reviews, inspections of erosion control, traffic maintenance, materials testing, and scheduling. They will work alongside MDTA's General Engineering Consultant and Kiewit Infrastructure Co., the project's design builder.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and the MDTA
unveiled the design
for the new Key Bridge. The latest build will visually mimic the original bridge's architecture while having structural improvements.
Plans for the new Key Bridge reveal significant changes to accommodate larger vessels, with the shipping channel expanding from 700 to 1,000 feet wide under a cable stay design.
The bridge's clearance will increase by 45 feet, reaching a height of 230 feet above the water, to allow for greater ship traffic.
After the collapse, former President Joe Biden said he would push the federal government to pay for the cost of the bridge's reconstruction, later approving $60 million in emergency relief funding to recover debris from the Patapsco River.
In November 2024, money for the rebuild was included in a
$100 billion disaster fund request
sent to Congress.
In December 2024, lawmakers announced that
federal funding
would cover the full cost of the rebuild.