And soon it begins…
January is now here and winter is in full swing, and a bitter blast of arctic air has settled in over this region. Snow is in the forecast, and my husband might actually be able to use the snowblower that we bought over three years ago. According to a news story, next Tuesday, January the 7th, is also the day that the process to recreate Baltimore’s fallen metal monster begins. On that very frigid day the contractor will begin surveying the site in preparation to design and erect a new monster bridge to replace the fallen Key Bridge. Later on, in the spring, the demolition of the remains of the old bridge is expected to take place. There was no word on how quickly thereafter the actual construction would start. The optimistic time table is that the new bridge will be operational by the fall of 2028, but of course that sort of major public works project doesn’t always proceed as planned.
As of late I have been reading up more on the history of the monster of Tampa Bay and I cannot help but wonder if Tampa’s past will become Baltimore’s future. Those events are so eerily similar and so much of what took place then is again happening now. But Baltimore’s new bridge has yet to be designed, let alone built. Will history also repeat itself in that way? Most likely Baltimore’s new bridge will be built more quickly, as the Skyway was an experiment that took nearly seven years to complete. It was indeed not unlike the Titanic in some ways. While neither construction project was truly a new design, both were the largest and most impressive (ocean liner and cable stayed bridge) of their kind. Also, the “Frankenstein Incorporated” firm responsible for the design of the Tampa monster will not be involved in anyway in this project. Said company was blacklisted by the federal government due to at least two botched bridge designs, one of which collapsed and killed several people. The other required an extensive reworking by another contractor. This does not surprise me, considering the sinister pedigree of the current Skyway. The Key Bridge contractor has but one bridge of this type to its name (that I know of), which is located in Canada. It appears to be a rather typical and generic looking example of a large cable stayed bridge. But little will actually be known until a rendering of the chosen design is made public. I would imagine that will come later this year, possibly in the early summer once the demolition is completed. I also expect that it will look something like the infamous Skyway, as all sources point to it being of the same type of bridge. The span length will be about the same, but the Key Bridge 2.0 will be much taller, and its towers will rise high above the Patapsco River. In fact, the height of its towers might exceed that of the tallest skyscraper in Baltimore! This new bridge truly will be a monster looming over the river, dominating the southern end of the city. In addition, it will likely be an awe inspiring (and for some, an intimidating or even terrifying) feature for motorists on the Beltway.