Maryland awards contract for Francis Scott Key Bridge rebuild after deadly collapse

Source: ABC News/AP

August 29, 2024, 11:20 AM


BALTIMORE -- Maryland transportation leaders on Thursday approved a contract for rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge several months after the 1.6-mile (2.6-kilometer) steel span collapsed under the impact of a massive container ship that lost power and crashed into one of its supporting columns.

In the immediate aftermath of the deadly March 26 collapse, officials quickly promised to rebuild the bridge — a longstanding Baltimore landmark and vital piece of transportation infrastructure. They cited a 2028 completion date and estimated the project would cost $1.7 billion and would include significantly more pier protection to better defend against future wayward ships.

At a monthly meeting Thursday morning, the Maryland Transportation Authority board awarded a $73 million contract for the first phase of the project to Kiewit Infrastructure, which calls itself “one of North America’s largest and most respected engineering and construction organizations.”

Bruce Gartner, executive director of the Maryland Transportation Authority, said the contract award signifies a big step forward in the recovery and rebuild process. “This really represents such an order of magnitude bigger than all our previous milestones,” he said in an interview Thursday. He said the agency hopes to release renderings of a preliminary design within the next few months, which will give the public an idea of what the new bridge will look like.

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