The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, which collapsed yesterday after a freighter collided with it, is the largest bridge in this city in the state of Maryland. It has a length of 2,632 meters and more than 11 million vehicles pass through it a year.
This bridge was immortalized by "The Wire", the successful American television series set in Baltimore about judicial wiretapping of a police group and in which many of its characters are based on real people from the city, who some consider to be one of the best series in recent TV history, a true cult piece.
Named after poet Francis Scott Key, author of the lyrics to the American anthem, construction of the current bridge began in 1972 and was dedicated on March 23, 1977. The structure crosses the lower Patapsco River between Hawkins Point and Sollers Point and the I-695 highway (Baltimore Beltway) runs through it.
The bridge that collapsed is, according to the Historic Sites organization, heir to the one built between 1833 and 1843 with stone pillars, demolished in 1915, and the one that replaced it, a concrete arch inaugurated in 1923 already with the name of Francis Scott Key because the artist lived in a nearby area at the beginning of the 19th century.
Originally the bridge was known as 'Outer Harbor Crossing'.
The freighter that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
Photo Reuters.
The bridge pilings and other components form an underwater reef that attracts fish, such as striped bass or perch, which is why the place is appreciated by sport fishing enthusiasts.
The area also attracts pleasure boats, and local tour boats and cruise ships offer travel routes near the bridge.
Boat launch ramps, a fishing pier, and views of the bridge are located near the western end of the bridge in Fort Armistead Park.
Each summer, the US Coast Guard deploys the poet Francis Scott Key memorial buoy in the Patapsco River near the bridge.
The star-covered buoy marks the approximate location where Francis Scott Key wrote the national anthem, 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' while attempting to facilitate the release of a prisoner held on a British ship during the bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814.
Baltimore, an important seaport even before the American Revolution located on the Chesapeake Bay, is the most populated city in the state of Maryland, with just over 600,000 inhabitants in the urban core and 2,700,000 in its metropolitan area.
The Baltimore Bridge appears heavily in the second season of The Wire.
They rule out that it is a terrorist attack
With the recent events in Russia, where a group of Islamic extremists caused a massacre at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow that left more than 130 dead, terrorism alerts expanded throughout the planet.
Taking into account the background of September 11, 2001, with the attack on the twin towers, the hypothesis of a possible attack on the Baltimore bridge was immediately considered, however that version was discarded.
The police see "no indications" that the collapse of a major bridge in the United States after a ship crashed into it was due to a terrorist act, they reported this morning in the United States.
"There is absolutely no indication that there was terrorism, that this was done on purpose," said Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley.
The ship that caused the collapse flies the flag of Singapore.
It is a 48 meters wide and 300 meters long freighter built in 2015, according to the MarineTraffic.com platform.
EFE