The channel that allows access to the Port of Baltimore has been fully cleared following nearly 11 weeks of cleanup from the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.
The channel that allows access to the Port of Baltimore has been fully cleared following nearly 11 weeks of cleanup from the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.
The full 700-foot-wide, 50-foot-wide Fort McHenry Channel was reopened Monday, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Portions of the Maryland passageway have been shut down since a cargo ship crashed into the bridge on March 26, killing six construction workers and throwing a wrench in the supply chain.
The announcement comes after months of painstaking work to clear the channel, with crews recently using specialized cranes to pull out 500-ton pieces of the bridge out of the Patapsco River.
Overall, about 50,000 tons of bridge wreckage had to be removed from the Patapsco River.
Crews set off a chain of carefully placed explosives to bring down a large section of the bridge, and the Dali container ship was successfully refloated on May 20.
Thousands of employees work at the Port of Baltimore, which is a major shipping channel. Many of those people were put out of a job when the bridge collapsed, and cargo was rerouted to other ports.
The cleared channel is a major victory for officials hoping to reopen the port. But the recovery from the collapse is far from over. It could be years before the bridge is rebuilt, with Maryland officials estimating the new span will be finished by fall of 2028.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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