Engineers used high explosives to cut steel from the bridge truss at the bow of the MV Dali on the Patapsco River outside the Port of Baltimore, an important step toward fully reopening the river.
The largest remaining section of the Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Patapsco River in Baltimore, Maryland, was destroyed by an explosive device Monday afternoon. Engineers had spent weeks installing what Gov. Wes Moore called “precision cutting” charges at key joints in the truss, but bad weather delayed the explosion by a day.
The simultaneous explosion of the charges on Monday broke apart a large section of the truss and sent it falling over the bow of the MV Dali into the river. Parts of the road and some of the steel remain on the ship, but Baltimore officials have not yet said whether they will be removed or taken with Dali when it launches this month.
TOP SHOT – Crew members conduct a controlled demolition of a portion of the Francis Scott Key Bridge moored to the Dali container ship in Baltimore, May 13, 2024. The Francis Scott Key Bridge, a major transportation route to Baltimore’s busy port, collapsed in March. On the 26th, a container ship in Dali lost power and collided with a pole, killing six road construction workers. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
Debris from the bridge and the ship itself blocked the entrance to the Port of Baltimore in late March when a container ship crashed into the bridge after what appeared to be a momentary and complete loss of power, causing the structure to collapse in a rapid cascading failure. is. One of America’s busiest ports. Emergency shallow-draft waterways have already been cleared around the epicenter of the disaster, but the main federal waterway, which is being dredged to a depth of 50 feet for the largest visiting cargo vessels, remains cut off.
But with demolition costs, reopening the main waterway and bringing the Port of Baltimore back to capacity is now closer. Baltimore City hopes to have the waterway cleared by the end of this month.
In a statement before the explosion, Maryland Governor Wes Moore said, “We remain on track to reopen the entire 50 Foot Strait,” and that the demolition costs were “too much to tear down for Dali to build.” “The idea was to remove parts of the bridge that were needed.” It will be refloated so that the process of fully opening up the federal waterway can continue. ”
Mr Moore spoke out about the pace of work and how quickly engineers were moving to clear the channel, saying: “The complexity of this operation means that it will take many months to clear this channel. “Some people said that,” he said, puzzling him. In fact, he said: “We are now very close to complete clearing of the Channel, and we are already seeing large ships in and out of the Port of Baltimore. And next week, we will have about 30 ships and barges in the port’s public and private terminals. is expected to arrive. These vessels include container ships, roll-on roll-off vessels carrying agricultural machinery and new cars, bulk carriers carrying sugar, metals, oil… We expect it to arrive in a few weeks. I was able to complete it.”
The stranded Dali will be refloated and a fleet of tugboats will move it to the port wall, where its containers will be unloaded and initial repairs will be made. It is likely that she will eventually head to a shipyard for repairs so that she can return to commercial service.
BALTIMORE, MD – MAY 13: In this aerial photo, the steel trusses of the destroyed Francis Scott Key Bridge that held the container ship Dali in place are shown in the Patapsco River on May 13. It was separated from the ship using a controlled detonation of explosives. 2024, Baltimore, Maryland. In the final stages of debris removal to move the ship to port, an estimated 500-foot section of the bridge, weighing between 8 million and 12 million pounds, was removed through controlled demolition. On March 26, the Dali crashed into the Key Bridge, causing the bridge to collapse and killing six construction workers. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
