Annapolis, Maryland– The National Transportation Safety Board is scheduled to vote on its findings on the cause of the massive container ship crash Crashed last year At the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, which collapsed and killed six construction workers.
The board’s vote is scheduled for Tuesday, one day after Maryland state officials did More than double the estimated cost to replace the bridge and add two years to the projected completion date — up to 2030. The new projected cost ranges between $4.3 billion and $5.2 billion, compared to a previous estimate of about $1.9 billion.
Gov. Wes Moore said Monday that initial cost estimates and timeline for rebuilding were prepared less than two weeks later The bridge collapsed in March 2024.
“Since then, national economic conditions have deteriorated and material costs have increased,” said Moore, a Democrat. “At the same time, higher costs resulted from federal design standards and flexibility — not from state discretionary choices.”
The board is meeting in Washington to vote on the probable cause, safety recommendations and any changes to a previous report.
Former investigators Discover a loose cable That could have caused electrical problems on the freighter named Daly, which lost power and veered off course before hitting the bridge, according to documents released last year by the NTSB.
When the problematic cable was disconnected, it caused a power outage on the ship similar to what occurred as it approached the bridge on March 26, 2024, according to documents previously released by the NTSB.
Daly was leaving Baltimore bound for Sri Lanka when her steering failed due to a power outage. The 947-foot (289 m) cargo ship then struck a bridge supporting column around 1:30 a.m., causing the bridge to collapse into the Patapsco River.
Release the safety investigators Preliminary report Last year, it documented a series of power problems on board the ship before and after it left Baltimore.
Records released by the NTSB after that initial report indicate that Daly first experienced a loss of power while she was still docked in Baltimore. That was after a crew member accidentally closed the exhaust damper while performing maintenance, causing one of the ship’s diesel engines to shut down, according to the previous report. Crew members then made changes to the ship’s electrical configuration, switching from a switch-and-breaker system — which had been in use for several months — to another system that was active when she left.
This second transformer and breaker system is where investigators found the loose cable, according to investigative reports.
Engineers from Hyundai, the manufacturer of the ship’s electrical system, said the loose cable could create an open circuit and cause the breaker to open, according to a 41-page report detailing tests performed on the Daly in the weeks after the crash. Engineers disconnected the cable as part of the simulation, resulting in a power outage to the ship.
Six men from the road crew, who were filling potholes during a night shift, died when the bridge collapsed. The collapse hampered commercial shipping traffic through the Port of Baltimore for several months before the canal was fully opened in June of that year.
NTSB He was criticized Maryland Transportation Authority for failing to address the bridge’s vulnerability to ship strikes — despite significant changes in shipping since it opened to traffic in 1977. The board called on other bridge owners to learn from the example.
Long a Baltimore landmark, the bridge was a vital piece of transportation infrastructure that allowed drivers to bypass downtown with ease. The original 1.6-mile (2.6 km) steel span took five years to construct and opened to traffic in 1977. It was of particular importance to the city’s port operations.
Crews are working to demolish the remaining sections of the bridge, a process that began in July.