A loose wire is to blame for the crash of a cargo ship last March that killed six people and destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge
National Transportation Safety Board investigators revealed Tuesday in testimony that the wire caused two blackouts that eventually resulted in a loss of propulsion and steering.
“This tragedy should have never occurred. Lives should have never been lost, as with all accidents that we investigate, this was preventable,” said Jennifer Homendy, the chairwoman of the NTSB who oversaw the investigation.
Investigators concluded the reason the wire came loose is that a label was affixed to the wire too close to where it was plugged into the breaker.
The label prevented the wire from fully inserting into the breaker because the casing pushed against the label.
Homendy said figuring out the culprit for the blackout was an astonishing feat.
“The Dali is almost 1,000 feet, it's as long as the Eiffel Tower is high. With miles of wiring and thousands of electrical connections,” she said. “Locating a single wire that is loose among thousands of wires, is like looking for a loose bolt in the Eiffel Tower.”
The MDTA says it is reviewing the report and recommendations.
“The MDTA maintains that the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and the tragic loss of life were the sole fault of the Dali and the gross negligence of its owners and operators,” the MDTA wrote in a statement. “The Key Bridge was approved and permitted by the federal government and complied with those permits. The Key Bridge Rebuild continues to advance in the design process and will have a rigid fender pier protection system to meet today’s American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials design standards.”
MDTA updated its forecast for the bridge Monday night, ballooning original estimates by more than half.
The forecast projects the bridge rebuild will now cost between $4.3 billion and $5.2 billion.
MDTA also said the rebuild will take two years longer and finish in 2030, rather than the original date of fall 2028.
“As design has advanced and pre-construction work progresses, it became clear that material costs for all aspects of the project have increased drastically since the preliminary estimates were prepared less than two weeks after the initial tragedy,” said Acting Transportation Secretary and MDTA Chair Samantha J. Biddle.
Biddle went on to state that the cost range and schedule changes are directly correlated to increased material costs and to a robust pier protection system designed to protect the bridge from future ship strikes.
“The new Francis Scott Key Bridge isn’t just a local infrastructure project — it’s vital to our nation’s economy and will connect the Baltimore region to economies throughout the United States and the world,” Biddle said. “Although rebuilding will take longer than initially forecasted and cost more, we remain committed to rebuilding as safely, quickly and cost effectively as possible.”
According to the Federal Highway Administration, highway construction costs have increased by 72% in the last five years. Inflation and labor costs also factored into the cost increase.
The American Relief Act authorized more than $8 billion of federal reimbursement for the Key Bridge rebuild and cleanup.
Maryland and the city of Baltimore are currently suing the ship owner and manager for damages.
The Key Bridge’s rebuild design is now 70% complete and the project is still ahead of other similar projects in terms of how quickly it is planned to finish.
The new bridge design, which is headed by the construction company Kiewit, has the structure spanning 1,665 feet.
MDTA will be conducting a test pile program at the bridge site over the next few months to ensure the soil can hold the weight of the bridge and settle properly.
Six piles over 200 feet long have already been installed. A load frame will be attached to the piles to ensure the soil is solid enough and that it can hold the weight of the bridge. More piles will be installed in other parts of the river as well for the same test.
“We are testing these to ten million pounds. This is the support for the new bridge,” said Jim Harkness, MDTA’s chief engineer. “It’s a very large bridge. We need to make sure we have confident foundations.”
The state is using the two largest cranes on the East Coast to move the piles and help hammer in the piles.
MDTA started the partial demolition of what was remaining of the bridge in July, moving 10,000 tons of debris out of the area, according to Jason Stolicny deputy director of private development at MDTA.
“We’ve now taken off the deck on the north and south part of the bridge,” Stolicny said.
The structural steel will be removed from 13 spans of the south side of the bridge next. Each span has seven girders weighing 50,000 pounds. Four spans have been completed so far. A similar operation will start on the north side of the bridge after that and then piers that are connected to land.
Those activities will run into early 2026.
