Ark of the Lost Angels

“Great view. The harbor, I mean” “It’s fuckin’ picturesque is what it is.” – Frank and Nick Sobotka. _{(The Wire S2E4 “Hard Cases”)}

Extra Edition! Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapses into the Patapsco River after a support column is hit by a cargo ship.

This week was originally supposed to be Ukraine Week, where everything I posted was related to Russia’s war against Ukraine. The Wednesday and Friday posts will still go on as scheduled, but this is a special post here today, because an undeniable tragedy occurred today.

Early this morning, at around 1:30 AM on March 26th, 2024, the Francis Scott Key Bridge in my hometown of Baltimore, Maryland collapsed after a Singaporean-flagged cargo ship, Dali, hit a support column, leading to a catastrophic failure of the entire bridge. The footage, has been shared so many places across social media today, but I’ll link it again here. It’s a bit distressing, so be warned.

A good friend of mine from high school texted me at 6:34 AM today saying, “Bro the fucking Key Bridge is gone.” My initial reaction to this was, “Nah, he’s bullshitting me.” Then I checked social media, and saw the video, and I couldn’t help but stare.

It’s been sitting with me all day.

For those of you not from Baltimore, the Key Bridge formed an important part of the Baltimore Beltway, I-695, that made a ring around the entire city. It was about a mile long over the Patapsco River. Thousands of people used the bridge daily as part of their daily commute. I drove it myself about six months ago. The Key Bridge has been an iconic Baltimore landmark since it was completed in 1977. It’s just always been there, the south side of the Beltway loop, in the backdrop of countless of shots of the city.

I’ve driven across the Key Bridge on more than one occasion. I remember passing underneath it on a cruise with my family in 2010. I’ve seen it in the distance a thousand times when I was in the city. The Key Bridge was in background shots of local news, and establishing shots in movies, and was just always present.

And I recognize that Baltimore has a rough reputation. But it’s our city, and we’re proud of it even when we’re complaining about it. It may be run by the clueless, the corrupt, and the craven. It may be rough, and struggling, and intimidating. But it is still our city.

Playful ribbing of local government aside, I would argue that Maryland Governor Wes Moore and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott have done a great job at leading us through this catastrophe. Nobody could have prepared anyone for something like this. The bridge had ‘Fair’ ratings in its last two inspections in 2021 and 2023, and I can’t think of any bridge in America that can withstand the direct impact from a ship the length of three football fields, with a gross tonnage of 95,000 going eight knots.

Furthermore, the crew of the ship should be commended at this early juncture. Based on the available information, it appears that the Dali suffered an electrical failure which knocked out propulsion control. Upon power returning to the ship, the crew called in a mayday about 90 seconds before impact. The information reached the bridge controllers about 60 seconds before impact, and they were able to stop traffic on the bridge immediately, with the last vehicle crossing the bridge about 20 seconds before the bridge stopped existing. The quick work saved lives.

Sadly, there were casualties. A work crew of seven men, plus one state inspector, were on the bridge to repair potholes. One of the workers and the state inspector were pulled out of the water alive, but as of the writing of this post at 7:52 PM on March 26th, they have not found the remains of the other six. Still, I consider so few lost lives to be just short of a miracle. An estimated 31,000 people traveled the bridge on the daily, as it was a frequent route for daily commuters. Had this tragic accident happened a few hours later, a few hundred people could have been trapped in traffic on that bridge when it went down. Worse yet, this Thursday is Opening Day for the Baltimore Orioles, and the bridge would have had much higher traffic as people traveled into the city for the festivities and to attend the game. Six lives lost is tragic, I want to be absolutely clear, but it could have been so much worse.

This tragedy hurts Baltimore in so many ways. In addition to turning the Beltway loop into a horseshoe and making it harder to get around, this is a part of the city that was just torn out. For me, the Key Bridge has just always been there. More than that, but this blocks up the port. The Patapsco Terminal is the largest part of the Port of Baltimore, and all of the dockworkers who work it now can’t work. If they don’t work, they don’t get paid. The port remains operational for land cargo, but there are still plenty of workers who only work with the ships, and the ships aren’t able to get in.

President Biden has put the full weight of the federal government behind helping this tragedy. He already announced that the federal government will pay for the cost of the new bridge. Both Governor Moore and Mayor Scott said that the bridge will be rebuilt in a way that honors this tragedy and the people affected by it.

I await the results of the investigation. The ship is still afloat, and the crew is apparently okay. The ship’s log and Voyage Data Recorder (equivalent of an airplane’s black box) are both accessible. The NTSB is already investigating, and their Singaporean equivalents are arriving tomorrow to cooperate with this investigation. Hopefully they can shed some light on what exactly went wrong and give some answers.

At the end of the day, this is my city, and it’s hurting. I had my eyes glued to the TV all day long. The conspiracy theory nuts have been out in full force, and I’ve been glad to see plenty of Baltimore’s own coming down upon them. David Simon, co-creator of the Wire, has put his Twitter account to good use today, bringing down the fury of God’s own thunder atop the head of anyone choosing today to mess with his beloved Baltimore. I’m glad to see that, even in our darkest hours, there are plenty of us who are proud of being Baltimoreans and sticking up for our city when tragedy strikes.

And I want to give a word of gratitude to the first responders who were out working for hours to try and rescue the six who remain unaccounted for. They provide an excellent example of who we are as a city, and are the best among us. They went out in cold, rough waters to try and save others. I can think of no better example of bravery and duty.

It’s going to be a long hard few years without the Key Bridge, but as Governor Moore said this morning, “We are Maryland Tough. We are Baltimore strong.” The bridge will grace our skyline once more, newer and better. We will rebuild, we will carry on.

Takes a lot more to bring Charm City down.