Baltimore bridge collapse: the high cost of a power outage

On Tuesday morning Marquita Finch, 38, climbed up a highway embankment just south of Baltimore to see the remains of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which for 47 years stretched 1.6 miles over Baltimore Harbor. At 1:30am the bridge collapsed when a 948 ft cargo vessel, the Singapore-flagged Dali, crashed into one of its pillars, bringing the entire structure down within 30 seconds. Gov. Wes Moore said the ship’s crew alerted authorities to a power outage onboard and issued a mayday call, which gave officials time to stop traffic. Six construction workers who had been fixing potholes are presumed dead, with two others rescued and the ship’s crew safe. Moore said reconstructing the bridge would be a “long-term build” – spelling trouble for the 30,000 people who commute across it every day, as well as shipping traffic and supplies through one of the most important ports on the US east coast. Finch told the NYT she would “probably” lose her job, which sits just on the other side of the bridge.