During the early morning hours of March 26, 2024, a tragedy commenced. At approximately 1:07 am, the MV Dali, a 984-foot ship with a deadweight tonnage approaching 117,000 tons entered the Fort McHenry Channel in Baltimore. About 18 minutes later, numerous audible alarms were recorded on the ship’s bridge audio as power was interrupted. At 1:26 am, the ship’s pilot called via radio for proximate tugboats to assist the vessel. It was at this time that the Maryland Transportation Authority was contacted regarding the ship’s blackout. Twenty-five seconds later, the pilot ordered the ship’s port anchor to be dropped.
At 1:27 am, the pilot issued another radio call indicating that the ship had lost all power and was approaching the Key Bridge. At that point, the bridge was quickly closed to traffic, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives. At 1:29 am, the ship’s speed was recorded at just below 8 miles per hour. Impact occurred at that time. At 1:29 am and 39 seconds, the pilot radioed the U.S. Coast Guard to report that Baltimore’s iconic Key Bridge existed no more. At that time, six construction workers filling potholes lost their lives.
In the wake of the life-destroying, commerce-interrupting collapse of Baltimore’s Frances Scott Key Bridge, another round of renewed scrutiny regarding America’s infrastructure resilience has emerged. While the current focus has shifted to the nation’s aging bridges and overpasses, many also question the quality of America’s water systems, electrical grids, local roads, highways, ports, and airports. While an abundance of money is set to be expended on American infrastructure over the next several years, it remains conceivable that the deterioration that has been allowed to transpire combined with the ever-expanding infrastructure needs of an expanding economy and population will mean that even the impending acceleration of investment will fall short of the mark.
Baltimore’s bridge collapse has also highlighted another issue in America – the division in perspectives among policymakers. While some policymakers almost instantly proclaimed a commitment for the federal government to completely front the money to reopen the Port of Baltimore and rebuild a bridge that forms part of the region’s beltway, others questioned whether the federal government should step in aggressively. That leaves open a very important question – who should pay when a community suffers a major infrastructure setback, whether due to faulty ship electronics, a noncompliant truck, weather, or unnoticed and untreated physical deterioration?
Meanwhile, as debates rage and wreckage steadily cleared, economic losses mount. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the nation’s 20th largest with a population exceeding 2.8 million. Before the tragic events of March 26th (and presumably at some point hereafter), the Port of Baltimore stood as the nation’s ninth largest by trade volume, moving approximately “50 million tons of international bilateral trade in 2023”. The Port is especially important in segments such as auto imports (national leader) and coal exports (ditto).
Within Maryland, the port supports over 15,000 direct jobs according to state’s official website, with another 140,000 jobs employed in related businesses. In total, the Port generates $2.6 billion in business activity, supplying nearly $400 million in tax revenue. While there are national implications to the Port’s interrupted activities, those who manage global logistics have become rather accustomed to dealing with supply chain challenges. Accordingly, cargo has been quickly diverted to other ports. For instance, within days of the disaster in Baltimore, the Port of Virginia, with terminals at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay proximate to Norfolk, opened a gate at 5 am, an hour earlier than normal, to accommodate more truckers. As reported by Bloomberg, a major railroad also quickly expanded its services.
While shipments to the Port of Baltimore are expected to resume over the next several weeks as of this writing (late-April), logistical challenges will remain. The bridge’s absence leaves a gaping hole in the road network that encircles Baltimore. Though ports on the East Coast have been able to absorb the immediate aftermath of diverted cargo with reasonable ease, longer-term implications remain problematic. The bridge served as an important feeder into the port, with traffic now forced to reroute large distances, perhaps for many years.
Almost immediately, questions emerged regarding whether steps could have been taken to better protect the bridge. Many bridges similar to the Key Bridge are protected by barriers designed to prevent or diminish the impact of vessel collisions. These installations can take several forms, but among the most widely used are “dolphins”, which are “circular sheet pile cells filled with material such as sand or concrete that essentially serve as bumpers”.
Such practices are not new. The Sunshine Skyway, a two-span bridge constructed in 1954 across lower Tampa Bay similarly collapsed on May 9th, 1980, when the Summit Venture, a freighter, collided with a support beam. That impact sent a nearly quarter-mile section of the road, several cars, and a bus into the water below, with 35 fatalities recorded. When engineers designed its replacement, they included dolphins mounted atop a network of artificial islands as part of a system visible to the naked eye. The replacement was completed in 1987, nearly four decades prior to Baltimore’s bridge collapse.
For Now, Federal Government is Infrastructure’s Champion
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, enacted in November 2021, earmarks approximately $110 billion specifically for roads, bridges, and major projects. This legislation not only aims to repair and replace over 10,000 bridges across the nation but also seeks to modernize roads to accommodate current and future demands.
The allocation includes a significant focus on decreasing bottlenecks, expanding freight routes, and improving safety features, all of which are critical for sustaining economic growth and improving public safety. The Act represents one of the most substantial federal investments in infrastructure in decades, reflecting a bipartisan effort to address longstanding deficiencies and prepare for emerging challenges in transportation logistics and commuter safety. According to a report by the Brookings Institution, a D.C. based think-tank, as of November 2023, a little more than $300 billion in funding has been directed towards state coffers, with 80% of funding yet to be distributed.
What Baltimore’s tragedy suggests is that significant resources should be spent defensively. It is often said that one doesn’t know what they have until they lose it. While many want to see expanded road networks, more subway stations, larger airport terminals, etc., the Baltimore experience reminds us that we should also treasure that which we already have.