Maryland driving alert
 

Early this morning a large container ship hit a support pylon of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsing a large part of the bridge. The bridge is a major part of he I95 North South route as an alternative to the tunnels under the bay which prohibit hazardous materials and oversized vehicles. The bridge is part of I695 which circles Baltimore. If you plan any travel going through that area in the foreseeable future please plan accordingly.

Thanks for this, Basie. A huge container ship hit the bridge. A construction crew was doing overnight repairs; 2 men have been found of the 8-man crew. No clarity yet about cars that may have been driving that route.

Harbor tunnels ok for travel for cars/trucks without hazardous materials.

We were to meet Son#2 and DIL for lunch today at Vinny's Cafe in Dundalk where they live and is near the bridge. The crash and ensuing sirens kept them up all night so lunch is off for now.

Dundalk is a working neighborhood mostly of families whose origins were in Poland, Ukraine and Italy. It is chock full of good ethnic restaurants, and at east one excellent sea food place (Jimmy's Famous) and is a place off of the tourist path. It's the tourist's loss.

Traffic to and from the Port of Baltimore is suspended until further notice. The port is one of the busiest on the east coast. I do not know if cruises from Baltimore are affected but would imagine there must be some. effect.

Update: Ships already in the harbor cannot get out. It is not known how many, if any, vehicles were on the bridge and now in the river. There were 8 workers on the bridge repairing pot holes. Two were rescued and 6 unaccounted for. Considering the water temperature and time passed, it is not likely that any of those 6 survived. Searches are ongoing.

Bass - would you have any idea of the local time when this happened? Hopefully it was late/early & not too many vehicles on the bridge.

I read it happened at 1:30am.

When the crew lost control of the ship's direction a couple of minutes before the crash, they sent out a "mayday" call to those who control bridge traffic that resulted in traffic onto the bridge being halted just in time. The reason control was lost seems to have something to do with the propulsion mechanisms. Black smoke was seen coming from the ship shortly before the crash and the ship's lights seemed to be flickering. There had been 2 tugs escorting the ship from its dock but they left the ship. several minutes before the crash.