The Key Bridge Collapse Is Such A Sad And Devastating Event For The City Of Baltimore And The Entire Region

JIM WATSON. Getty Images.

"The bridge is gone!". Those were the first words I heard yesterday morning. I had absolutely no clue what that could even mean, those words don't make sense unless it's like a kids movie with a bad guy who yanks a bridge. What in the world could "The bridge is gone!" mean? It literally meant the bridge was gone. You've heard and seen all about the tragedy that happened yesterday with The Dali crashing into and bring down the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore so I won't go deep into detail, you can read RA's blog here to get his reaction on it at 5 AM yesterday AM. Clem had a great point when talking about this on The Rundown. We've become so desensitized to EVERYTHING now in our lives, this was the first time in a long, long time where I watched something happen and felt sick. You never expect to see a 1.6 mile bridge completely collapse like a house of cards in seconds. I mean it dropped like a sack of potatoes, just like that. I couldn't stop watching it, it didn't look real. It didn't feel real. Looked like something out of a movie. 

The worst part of all is the loss of lives, 6 construction workers who were on a break in the middle of the bridge. 6 hard working guys filling potholes to earn a living. Anytime someone dies it's an awfully sad thing, when it's an incident like it's a tragedy. You can't put into words how terrifying it must have been to be up there when the bridge was struck. Nothing you can do and you know it. Such an incredibly sad incident that unfolded. And we also have to talk about and honor the first responders and dispatch workers who handled this nightmare situation about as best they could and honestly saved a lot more lives. Just listen to their communication when they decided to close the bridge to stop the traffic once they were alerted to the mayday call. 2 of the workers were rescued but the other 6 are officially presumed dead due to the conditions in the water. 

It's sad 6 lives were lost but it truly is a miracle it wasn't more. These people not only did their job, but they're heroes. They stopped who knows how many cars from going over that bridge as a 300 meter fully loaded cargo ship was headed directly at it. If they hadn't acted so quickly this could have been a much greater loss of human life. Incredible job by the dispatch and the units to quickly form a plan and get it into place. As Riggs once said, look at the timestamps. Those people had like 90 seconds to get this plan into action and make sure they saved as many people as they could, talk about fight or flight man. And thank god this wasn't at 7 or 8 am during rush hour. The losses would have been just unspeakable. 

A lot of you probably hadn't heard of the Francis Scott Key Bridge before yesterday and that makes total sense. To a large part of people in Maryland and every single Baltimoron in the city, they knew exactly what it was. It was almost like a landmark out there, connecting the Glen Burnie/Pasadena area to the Dundalk/Essex area. The 4 finest groups of people I've ever laid eyes on, the bridge was a massive piece of not only the Maryland infrastructure, but the east coast as well. It literally connects the beltway/695 to form the loop around Baltimore, it's a massive piece of the roadway and highway system in Maryland. Losing that entire section for years will have such a negative impact on traffic. And let me remind you again, people are dead. A bridge collapsed. I'm not saying the worst part about this is traffic, I'm saying this will have ripple effects on the state for years. 35,000 cars would go over that bridge everyday, around 65,000 cars go through those tunnels in Baltimore everyday. You're adding 35,000 new cars to those tunnels. Tractor trailers would take that route because they can't go through the tunnels. That is a massive issue now as well. 

Advertisement

The bridge welcome massive cargo ships into the port of Baltimore, it's one of if not the busiest port on the eats coast. It's always like the caboose of Baltimore, it's the last thing ships see when they head out to sea. It makes sense cuz Dundalk is kind of the back party deck of the city, but man is it an important part of the city and state.I believe I read that about 80,000 cars come through this port every year and then are shipped around the country. Plus countless cruise ships and of course an insane amount of other exports and imports. The port being closed is going to have massive ramifications on the entire east coast, if not the country. This will cause massive changes in the shipping game, you know that is coming. Obviously all shipping out of the port and the area is shutdown, currently there are tons of cargo ships siting idle in the Patapsco waiting to figure out their next move and where to go, likely the port in Norfolk. But this will jack up everything for quite a while. Shipping channels will be behind and congested for months, the entire region is going to feel this impact. Shipping will be changed forever.

This won't be a quick clean up either, they have to figure out a plan to remove an entire bridge from the water which who knows how long that will take. There's also a damaged cargo ship that weighs almost 100,000 tons they need to have removed and who knows what condition it will be in once the clean up is completed. No matter how you look at it, this is a truly devastating event for the economy, the city, and the surrounding area. Again, no one more than the families who are missing loved ones, I want that clear. It's just shocking to see an event like this in what is basically the backyard of Baltimore. And then it comes down to building an entire new bridge. It took 5 years to build in the '70s, but honestly who knows how long this could take, a massive chunk of a major highway will be down and out for years, think about that. In a city like Baltimore, this isn't a small farm town you pass on the side of a highway, this is a major port system. And I haven't even talked about how much this will cost, has to be Billions. Has to be.

We are so close to the bridge my daughter jolted out of bed thinking it was thunder, the neighborhood Facebook posts saying "did anyone feel that?" were going nuts. The liquor store I go to is called "Key Bridge Liquors". This thing wasn't just a bridge, it honestly felt like a landmark. It's how I got to Jimmys Seafood every time I'd go. It's how I got to the baseball card shops I go to. Everyone has stories about being scared up there, looking into the city, seeing Camden Yards from there, looking at all the machines at the port, thinking about Frank Sobotka floating under there, it's just incredible that it's just gone. Imagine the Golden Gate Bridge just falling into the water, how weird would that be? And unless you've driven UP it, you really can't explain how big it was. 1.6 miles almost directly up it feels like. It's an absolute mammoth bridge, the longest truss bridge in the US and third longest in the world. No more. You could look out and see Fort Carroll as you headed into Dundalk which was my favorite part. Such a cool place. But again, we've all been up there and wondered "what if…..". Your mind just naturally goes to it. Unfortunately we found out what would happen and it's a tragedy.

Advertisement

I don't really know what I wanted to say in this blog but I know I wanted to write it. Now I've never lived in Baltimore city, I'm just outside it. I've lived all around it, but being arguably the biggest Orioles fan alive and having been pistol whipped and mugged in the city, I consider myself an honorary Baltimoron. I've driven over this thing hundreds of times, hundreds. I have friends who have taken this bridge basically every day of their lives. One of my buddies said he thinks besides the walls of his childhood home, the Key Bridge was the physical thing he saw the most, and I believe it. It's not really just a bridge to people who live in or around the Baltimore area. When you see the bridge you know you're almost home, it's just a comfort thing kind of. I feel sorry for the people who lost their lives, I feel sorry for the people who had the bridge in their backyard, I'm sorry for the people who crabbed under this thing every day. I'm sorry that Baltimore lost one of its iconic structures in a matter of seconds. It always just felt like it was in the background, no matter what it was always there. Sometimes you couldn't see it cuz of fog or something, but you knew it was there. It's an eery thought to think it's not. 

The Orioles have their Opening Day and Thursday and there won't be a dry eye in the house at Camden Yards during the Star Spangled Banner, which was written just a few yards from where the bridge collapsed. We were jazzed up for Orioles baseball all offseason, I think it's safe to say the city and the people really need this. 

The city got punched in the face a bunch on Tuesday, losing innocent lives in a tragic, unforgettable accident but they will rebound. Baltimore always does. For the people who made classless jokes in an event like this, you'll grow up one day and I know you'll see what you did was wrong. Baltimore truly is a special place, I've been to hundred of Orioles games, celebrated countless weddings there, spent many a dollar on adult sodas, had some of the best times of my life while also having the worst night of my life, but it's our special place. Seeing a big chunk of that special place in the water and not in the air was jarring, but we all will rebound. Again, you can think of it as a bridge, but it was a lot more to a lot of people in this city. If you live here, visit here, are from here, go to games here, come to eat here, you know what I mean. 

RIP to those who lost their lives.