Baltimore Bridge Debris Removal Begins

Maryland Governor Wes Moore reported that the bridge that collapsed last Tuesday in the city of Baltimore, an accident that caused six deaths and multimillion-dollar losses, began to be cut with a view to being safely removed by cranes.

Moore explained at a press conference that the top of the north side of the Francis Scotte Key Bridge, which collapsed when a freighter collided with the infrastructure, began to be cut by specialized demolition teams.

“The northern sections of the Key Bridge will be cut and removed, this will eventually allow us to open a temporary restricted channel that will help us carry more vessels around the collapse site,” he indicated, later emphasizing that this work will take time.

Divers continue to conduct underwater assessments in support of future operations. In time, the largest crane on the east coast of the United States arrived in Baltimore to remove the debris into which the bridge was reduced.

The crane, which can lift up to 1,000 tons of weight, will be one of the seven floating cranes that will participate in the work of collecting metal and concrete remains from the infrastructure.

These cranes join 10 tugboats, nine barges, eight salvage vessels and five Coast Guard vessels.

Prior to the start of the removal, an evaluation of the debris was carried out, which is considered “fundamental” before removing it from the water to determine the size in which the pieces of the bridge must be cut so that the cranes can lift them.

With the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, access to the port of Baltimore, one of the main US ports in the Atlantic, was blocked, with a transit of $80 billion of merchandise from abroad in 2023.