Crews carefully prepare to remove first piece of twisted steel from collapsed Baltimore bridge
twisted steel from the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland, The bridge crumpled into the Patapsco River on Tuesday after a massive cargo ship crashed into one of its main supports. Crews are carefully measuring and cutting the steel from the broken bridge before attaching straps so it can be lifted onto a barge and floated away, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm.
Shannon Gilreath said Saturday. Seven floating cranes — including a massive one capable of lifting 1,000 tons — 10 tugboats, nine barges, eight salvage vessels and five Coast Guard boats are on site in the water southeast of Baltimore. Each movement affects what happens next and ultimately how long it will take to remove all the debris and reopen the ship channel and the blocked Port of Baltimore, Maryland Gov.
Wes Moore said. "I cannot stress enough how important today and the first movement of this bridge and of the wreckage is. This is going to be a remarkably complicated process," Moore said.
Undeterred by the chilly morning weather, longtime Baltimore resident Randy Lichtenberg and others took cellphones photos or just quietly looked at the broken pieces of the bridge, which including its steel trusses, weigh as much as 4,000 tons. “I wouldn’t want to be in that water. It’s got to be cold.
It’s a tough job," said Lichtenberg from a spot on the river called Sparrows Point. The shock of waking up Tuesday morning to video of what he called an iconic part of the Baltimore skyline falling into the water has given way to sadness. “It never hits you that quickly.
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