What will a new Key Bridge look like in 2028? Maryland is accepting proposals
BALTIMORE -- Maryland's Transportation Authority is accepting proposals for a new Key Bridge as they start the process of rebuilding the span over the Patapsco River that is expected to take years.
What will a new Key Bridge look like? One proposal from Italian company, WeBuild, shows a cable bridge with its supports away from the main navigation channel for safety.
The final bridge proposal may end up looking far different, but state officials told WJZ they are wasting no time as they start the rebuilding process.
"We've moved fast since the collapse of the bridge. We've gotten to this point. We're going to continue to move fast to ask for these proposals to be submitted," said James Harkness, the chief engineer with the Maryland Transportation Authority. The MDTA put out a call for companies to submit their proposals by June 24th.
A contractor will be selected this summer, and final design will be selected within the next year.
The bridge is expected to be built by Fall 2028 at a cost of $1.7 billion.
"We're anticipating that we will have teams of companies, so these firms will have what we call a joint venture. It will be multiple firms that team up and will be able to deliver the design and construction and do so in an accelerated fashion," Harkness said.
Patapsco River channel to fully reopen
Unified Command removed the final large pieces of steel from the Patapsco River over the weekend with the goal of opening the full-width channel by next weekend.
"To now be so close to having the shipping channel back open—we have cruise ships coming in terminal and have ships coming in our terminal," Mayor Brandon Scott said Tuesday. "This is nothing but remarkable."
Who will pay for the new Key Bridge?
Still up in the air is whether Congress will authorize paying 100 percent of the cost of a new bridge. So far, the government is fronting 90 percent of the bill, leaving the state tens of millions of dollars short.
"We've continued to engage both the White House and also members of Congress on both sides—Democrats and Republicans—on the immediacy and urgency of being able to get the bridge rebuilt," Governor Wes Moore told WJZ Tuesday. "We have got to get the bridge rebuilt. It is an important artery to the Port of Baltimore, which is crucial to our nation's economy and supply chain. I've been very encouraged by the bipartisan support we received, but this will not be mission complete until we have that bridge rebuilt."
The state is using what's called a "progressive design-build process," meaning the costs will not be agreed upon upfront. They're selecting from among the few companies that can handle such a massive job from start to finish, bringing them in at the very beginning, and hopeful that will speed things up in the end.
"What we're looking for at this point is the qualifications of a proposing team, so we're looking for them to demonstrate that they have years of experience, that they have only qualified folks, and that they've done this type of bridge work before," Harkness said. "We don't get into design at this point. We're really looking for those qualifications that will give us the best team that's ready to meet an aggressive schedule, that can deliver quality, that is going to be open and transparent when we develop pricing later on."
You can get more information on the rebuilding project here.
