Prior to the impact by the crippled container vessel M/V Dali on March 26, the original Key Bridge handled 40,000 vehicles per day as part of the I-695 Baltimore Beltway. In a statement, MDTA Executive Director Bruce Gartner said that the agency needs “as many partners as possible pulling in one direction to help us accomplish our goals of reconnecting communities, getting Marylanders where they need to go and supporting commerce and the movement of goods throughout our region.”

Proposals are due June 24, with Phase 1 project team selection scheduled for later in the summer, according to MDTA. In response to questions submitted at a virtual industry forum for the rebuild held in May, the agency said the project team would develop project scope and requirements in collaboration with the agency and project stakeholders under a cost-plus-fee structure. The team then would have exclusive negotiating rights for Phase 2, which includes final design/engineering and construction for a guaranteed maximum price, with incentives added to accelerate completion. In the event a guaranteed maximum price is not agreed upon, MDTA will deliver the work under a separate contracting mechanism. 

The agency’s preliminary estimate for entire replacement program ranges from $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion. Maryland’s political leaders have spent the last two months lobbying Congress to fulfill President Joe Biden’s pledge of full federal funding for a replacement structure, though no formal funding bill has been introduced. 

MDTA is developing separate procurements for general engineering consultant services, and for three construction management and inspection contracts with a total value of $60 million.  

Aside from requiring a minimum 75-year design service life, the RFP does not specify a specific type of replacement structure, although state officials have often referred to a cable-stay design in their public comments. At the industry forum, MDTA said that it would collaborate with the progressive design-build team to “meet the goals of constructability, aesthetics and cost.” Alternative structure types consistent with those goals, along with the use of innovative materials and process, are to be considered during Phase 1, the agency said. 

Also to be determined during Phase 1 is whether stable surviving sections of the original Key Bridge will be incorporated into the new design or demolished, and establishing vertical and horizontal channel clearance to accommodate the current and future needs of the Port of Baltimore. The design-build team will also be required to have an experienced design manager to oversee pier protection systems, an element under investigation as a potentially contributing factor in the March 26 collapse. 

MDTA has already begun coordinating the rebuild’s permits with various state and federal agencies, with an eye toward qualifying for a categorical exclusion from more detailed environmental analyses in part by building the new Key Bridge in the centerline of its predecessor. Federal approval of the categorical exclusion is expected this summer, MDTA says.

As plans for the new Key Bridge take shape, the last remnants of the collapsed steel through-span structure gradually are scheduled to be removed from the Patapsco River by June 10, according to the multi-agency unified command overseeing the operation. Refloating and removal of the M/V Dali on May 20 cleared more than half of the 700-ft-wide, 50-ft-deep federal navigation channel, restoring access to the Port of Baltimore for deep-draft vessels. 

The complexities of removing the last large sections of steel mired below the mudline has added approximately 10 days to the original goal of completing debris removal from the channel by the end of May, according to the unified command. Removal of bridge wreckage from outside the channel, which is being overseen by MDTA, is on track for completion in late June.