BALTIMORE — Months after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, crews say the Fort McHenry Federal Channel was officially restored Monday.
The bridge collapsed in March after a cargo ship, named the Dali, crashed into it. The bridge collapse temporarily closed the Port of Baltimore.
Crews with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving have been working since March 26 to remove the large debris
After the wreckage was removed from the 50-foot mud-line, the Unified Command surveyed the area and deemed the riverbed safe for transit.
"The fully operational channel enables the flexibility to regain two-way traffic and cancel the additional safety requirements that were implemented because of the reduced channel width," the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a press release Monday.
The restoration of the Federal Channel comes after crews removed 50,000 tons of bridge wreckage from the Patapsco River. At one point, the US Armey Corps of Engineers said the Unified Command, which consists of six agencies, led the response efforts among about 56 federal, state, and local agencies, represented by 1,587 individual responders. Additionally, about 500 specialists from around the world operated a fleet of 18 barges, 22 tugboats, 13 floating cranes, 10 excavators, and four survey boats.
Not all of the wreckage has been removed, however, crews continued to survey and remove steel at and below the 50-foot mud-line.
“We’ve cleared the Fort McHenry Federal Channel for safe transit. USACE will maintain this critical waterway as we have for the last 107 years,” said Col. Estee Pinchasin, Baltimore District commander. “Although the overarching goal to restore full operational capacity to the Federal Channel was successful, each day, we thought of those who lost their lives, their families, and the workers impacted by this tragic event,” said Pinchasin. “Not a day went by that we didn’t think about all of them, and that kept us going.”
Maryland Governor Wes Moore released the following statement Monday night:
“One of our four key directives in the wake of the Key Bridge collapse has been to fully clear the federal channel. Today, we bring that directive to completion. By working together, we turned months into weeks – and bounced back faster than many could have ever anticipated.
I applaud and sincerely appreciate the dedication, commitment, and focus of Unified Command and the partnership from the Biden-Harris Administration and our federal delegation. This has been a remarkably complex operation, spanning thousands of people, hundreds of assets, and multiple objectives. This is government cooperation at its best—we can get big things done when we work together.
With the channel now fully open, we can get more Marylanders back to work at the Port of Baltimore, increase the flow of commerce through the city, and accelerate our economic recovery. But our work is not over until we rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
When we stand united, we achieve our goals. Together, we will continue to prove the full meaning of Maryland Tough and Baltimore Strong.”