At the site of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed last week after being hit by a container ship, crews at the site continue to remove 200 tons of the destroyed structure as work continues to remove steel and concrete from the site. The chunk was severed and lifted, officials said Monday.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said the piece, although as large as the Statue of Liberty, is only a small part of the project.
“The scale of this project is huge, even a small elevator is huge,” he said at a press conference.
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The collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore was photographed Sunday. On Monday, officials announced that a 200-ton block of the bridge had been lifted and a temporary channel opened. (AP/Mike Pesoli)
The next section of the bridge to be cut will weigh about 350 tonnes, Moore said. Officials said the underwater conditions the structure is in make it difficult for divers to see and work underwater.
“It’s more complicated than we originally expected,” said Coast Guard Maj. Gen. Shannon Gilreath. “Diving conditions are very tough down below.”
Parts of the bridge are said to be intertwined.
“These beams are basically intertwined and intertwined, so it’s very difficult to figure out where the final cut needs to be made,” Gilreath said.
Moore said officials “cannot overstate the complexity” of the operation.
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The image released Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board shows NTSB investigators aboard the cargo ship Dali, which crashed and collapsed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. (Peter Knudson/NTSB/AP)
In the early hours of March 26, the bridge collapsed after being hit by a Dali cargo ship, killing six construction workers. As of Monday, only two bodies had been recovered from the Patapsco River waters.
An 11-foot-deep temporary channel was opened Monday on the northeast side of the bridge for vessels involved in debris removal, Moore said. Officials said they hope to open another temporary channel that is 15 feet deep.
“We have two transits scheduled tonight as some barges and tugs leave the Port of Baltimore,” Gilreath said. “These are stepping stones to completing a marathon.”
Moore also said 57 businesses have applied for low-interest disaster loans since the program launched on Saturday. Businesses affected by the bridge collapse could be eligible to receive up to $2 million in bills and employee payments.
The Dali cargo ship, which collapsed after colliding with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 26, sits underwater. (Tassos Katopodis/Getty Images)
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Officials are still considering how to rebuild the bridge, which was completed in 1977. President Biden is scheduled to visit the site of the collapse on Friday.
“He’s going to see the unprecedented level of harm this has caused,” Moore said. “You’ll see the fact that he has a ship that’s about the size of the Eiffel Tower and weighs as much as the Washington Monument in the middle of the Patapsco River.”
