Video shows complexity of removing massive piece of Key Bridge collapse from container ship
BALTIMORE - Video from the collapsed roadway shows the scale and complexity salvage crews face as they prepare to remove what's known as "section four" of what was once the Key Bridge from the Dali container ship.
The ship is still a mangled mess underneath the massive steel structure even after crews removed 182 containers.
"The operation requires careful handling of roadbed material, crushed containers, and bridge fragments currently resting on the vessel," the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in an update.
Unified Command says its goal is to refloat the Dali by week's end.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said the precision cutting is happening as quickly and safely as possible.
"You can not move the Dali as long as we have tens of thousands of tons of steel sitting on top of it," Moore said.
Once the Dali is refloated, it can return to port where its remaining wreckage can be offloaded.
The main 50-foot-deep channel is still set to reopen by the end of May. A giant hydraulic claw will make that possible by removing pieces of the bridge embedded in the Patapsco River bed.
Early rendering of a potential bridge replacement
An Italian engineering firm said last week that it sent designs for a Key Bridge replacement to Maryland officials.
The preliminary renderings show a cable-stayed bridge with higher clearance for ships and its main pylon supports in shallow water away from any main channel.
It's the same company that rebuilt a bridge in Genoa, Italy that collapsed in 2018, killing 43 people. That new bridge opened more than two years after the collapse.
Early estimates from Maryland transportation officials say it would probably take twice that time for a new Key bridge.
MDOT leaders say a price tag would be up to $1.9 billion on a late 2028 timeline.
One construction worker remains missing
Tuesday will mark six weeks since the collapse that killed six construction workers who were repairing potholes when the container ship crashed into the bridge.
Five construction workers have been recovered. One worker, Jose Mynor Lopez, remains missing.
