Steady progress in Key Bridge salvage and recovery operations, 'significant increase' in travel times for trucks through Baltimore
BALTIMORE -- New video shows crushed gravel from the pavement of what was the Key Bridge being removed from the Patapsco River, a painstaking process.
Over the past week, teams have removed a little more than 20 percent of the 178 containers they must take off the Dali to refloat the massive cargo ship.
More new video from the Unified Command shows steel from the bridge on a barge.
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers animation explains the plan, which is still on track, to open a third, deeper channel to allow more access to the Port of Baltimore.
At least 68 vessels have passed through the two shallower alternate channels that opened in the days after the collapse.
Data from the University of Maryland shows the bridge's collapse has in some cases doubled and tripled travel times for trucks detouring around the Beltway or through the tunnels.
"We can see that I-95 I-895 and I-695 around the western side of the Beltway are experiencing significant impacts as shown by an increase in red and purple on the roadway is where they used to be green," a representative of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said in a webinar this week.
Friday, Governor Wes Moore announced more assistance for those businesses and workers who rely on the Port of Baltimore including grants of up to $200,000.
Governor Moore announced a new one-stop website with updated resources on the disaster.
Maryland's Congressional delegation introduced legislation that would mandate the federal government pay for all of the costs of a replacement bridge.
"This bill is a step toward accomplishing everything we said we would do one hundred percent of the way plain and simple," Rep. Kweisi Mfume said on the House floor.
Representatives also remembered the victims. Three bodies have yet to be recovered from the water.
"They were just out there doing their job," Representative John Sarbanes said. "They were husbands, dads, brothers and friends. Our deepest condolences go out to their families who are feeling that incredibly profound loss."
