Commuters, residents, and business owners waiting for a new Key Bridge will have to wait longer than previously thought… and construction will cost two to three times as much.
The Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) released new cost and timeline estimates one day before the National Transportation Safety Board released the failures that led the M/V Dali to lose power, strike the bridge, and cause the deadly collapse.
MDTA says it is working with the Federal Highway Administration to “quickly and safely” advance the rebuilding of the bridge that people and commerce operations relied on. MDTA announced it has raised the cost estimate to a range of $4.3-$5.2 billion, up from $1.7 billion. The predicted opening date of the bridge has been pushed back from 2028 to late 2030.
MDTA attributes the doubling or tripling of the cost to changing national economic conditions and material costs, which the agency says have increased dramatically. Because the cost and timeline estimates were made less than two weeks after the collapse on March 26, 2024, they didn’t factor in pre-construction activities (which have been underway since this summer), advanced design, and updated data points.
“The updated cost range and schedule are directly correlated to increased material costs and to a robust pier protection system designed to protect the new Key Bridge and reduce the likelihood of a future ship strike to the bridge’s foundational piers,” said Acting Transportation Secretary and MDTA Chair Samantha J. Biddle. “The new Francis Scott Key Bridge isn’t just a local infrastructure project—it’s vital to our nation’s economy and will connect the Baltimore region to economies throughout the United States and the world.”
A big part of the cost increase comes from the length of the main bridge span and the height of the main piers. The new bridge’s main span will be 1,665 feet long to accommodate today’s large ships (some of which are much larger than the Dali). The pier protection in the new bridge design consists of fenders that are larger than a football field. They would prevent a collapse in the event that another ship struck the bridge.
The MDTA cites construction cost increases of 72% in the last five years, according to the Federal Highway Administration, and points to lots of uncertainty in market pricing.
MDTA leaders believe that after negotiations with the bridge design builder are finished, the final cost will stay between the $4.3-$5.2 billion range. “Although rebuilding will take longer than initially forecasted and cost more, we remain committed to rebuilding as safely, quickly and cost effectively as possible,” said Biddle.
How will the steep cost be paid for? The American Relief Act authorizied more than $8 billion for the Emergency Relief Fund so that the federal share of Emergency Relief funds for responding to the Key Bridge destruction will be 100%. The state is making large contributions to upfront construction costs and putting hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance proceeds towards the rebuilding effort.
At the same time, the state says it continues to pursue the Dali‘s owner and manager for what it calls “all the damages caused by their gross negligence”, including the cost of the Key Bridge reconstruction, “so that the parties responsible for this tragedy pay for the damages they caused.”
The pre-construction phase continues at the Key Bridge site as massive machinery is used to drive test piles into the softer layers of river bottom. MDTA says groundbreaking for the new bridge is expected in the coming months. The agency has been posting frequent updates in the operations at KeyBridgeRebuild.com and on the accompanying social media pages.
