BALTIMORE, Md. (7News) — For the first time in 56 days, Baltimore area residents observed a port without the massive identifiers from one of the state's most notable maritime tragedies, something that Maryland Governor Wes Moore said made him feel emotional when speaking Tuesday morning.
The governor, along with other leaders gathered in Baltimore, Maryland again on Tuesday, this time without the backdrop of the M/V Dali, the Singaporean-flagged cargo ship that collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge eight weeks ago.
With the massive cargo ship moved to a pier for maintenance, state and federal leaders continue work removing more scrap metal and concrete from the federal channel in the Patapsco River. Their goal is to expand the operational width of the channel to 400 feet and a depth of 50 feet by the end of May.
Gov. Moore continuously applauded crews' continued efforts, noting that he saw many get back to work while the Dali was being refloated and moved to a nearby pier.
Monday's removal of the 158-foot-wide and nearly 1,000-foot-long M/V DALI ship clears another massive hurdle in moving forward from the March 26 collapse that resulted in the deaths of six Maryland construction workers. To date, the bodies of all six workers have been recovered from the water.
But it also heavily impacted traffic and commerce around the area; the bridge was one of three major thoroughfares to the Port of Baltimore and one of the only routes trucks carrying hazmat material could take through the city. The other two roadways are tunnels.
Though Gov. Moore said Tuesday that his office had been looking into the safety of bridges across the region prior to March 26, the collapse brought the issue more into focus.
"[But] we need to make sure that every single critical infrastructure asset in our state is one that is protected and the people of our state need to know and should know that they are safe being able to maneuver on them," Gov. Moore said.
Officials said they are working to replace the roughly 2-mile-long bridge as early as 2028.
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