By ANDREW MOLLENAUER
About half of Baltimoreans say their daily lives are disrupted following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, according to a new survey.
The 21st Century Cities Initiative at Johns Hopkins University surveyed about 1,500 people in Baltimore City and county about the impact of the March 26, 2024, Key Bridge collapse and prospects for rebuilding the bridge.
The Key Bridge was destroyed when a container ship rammed a support column, severing Interstate 695 crossing over the Patapsco River, a route used by some 35,000 daily commuters.
About one-quarter of those surveyed said the bridge loss affected their ability to get to work, to school, or to see family or friends.
Mac McComas, a coauthor of the report, said he was surprised the impacts didn’t vary by race or demographics, which would typically be the case in Baltimore.
“This is maybe the one thing that could happen in Baltimore that would impact kind of everybody fairly equally,” McComas said Monday in an interview with Capital News Service.
The survey found that 6 in 10 residents who lived within three miles of the bridge reported that the collapse affected their daily lives.
Looking ahead to the Key Bridge rebuilding, the survey found that about 73% of respondents said it would take longer than four years to rebuild the bridge. “There’s this kind of distrust in local government, federal government, state government to deliver on big infrastructure projects,” McComas said.
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