Webuild presents concept for ‘safe’ 700m span cable stayed Baltimore bridge replacement

WeBuild has presented a concept design for a replacement Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, which would be a 700m span cable stayed structure allowing for piles at a “safe distance”.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland USA collapsed after being struck by a container ship on the morning of 26 March, around 1.30am local time (5.30am GMT).

Completed in 1977, the Francis Scott Key Bridge was a 2.63km long bridge with a 366m span that carried the Interstate-695 across the Patapsco River and the outer Baltimore Harbor. It was the third longest span of any continuous truss bridge in the world.

Webuild has presented a new design for the bridge, in collaboration with architect and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Carlo Ratti and French structural engineer Michel Virlogeux.

The Italian construction firm has said it is “ready to make [itself] available, to quickly restore this strategic bridge for local mobility” and has been working “incessantly” on the design for the last month.

The proposal is a cable-stayed bridge that also aims to improve several functional aspects, including safety, adaptability and sustainability.

The bridge design has been put forward to ensure maximum safety for navigation, even for larger ships. It is assumed, for example, that the navigable clearance will be 65m, which is much greater than that of the collapsed bridge. The plan also states the bridge span would be enlarged to about 700m, with the main pylons positioned in much shallower water and away from the navigation channel.

All this would allow the Port of Baltimore to remain operational according to Webuild.

A carriageway is also planned, with the increase of one lane in each direction and the widening of emergency lanes, in response to the increased traffic levels on the bridge. The proposed new smart features will also enable safer traffic management and the use of predictive maintenance techniques.

Webuild also envisages the use of more sustainable materials in the construction of the bridge to preserve the ecosystem of the Patapsco River.

The firm offered to the relevant authorities a proposal for the design and planning of reconstruction of the bridge, drawn up as a sign of solidarity and friendship with the US.

Artist render of Webuild Baltimore bridge concept

Last month, NCE reported how removal of the pieces of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, with the biggest being between 400t and 500t, has required divers, engineers and a 1,000t capacity floating crane.

Webuild chief executive Pietro Salini said: “We at Webuild and our US subsidiary Lane are ready to make ourselves available, to quickly restore this strategic bridge for local mobility.

“We will take part, on May 7, in the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA)’s Virtual Industry Forum for the reconstruction of the bridge, and we are ready to help in any way we can at this stage in the spirit of pro bono service.

“The design concept of the bridge that we have been working on incessantly during this last month will represent a key contribution towards the design and reconstruction or new construction of the bridge.”

He continued: “We are aware of the importance of this infrastructure from a logistical and commercial point of view, with more than 1.4M local residents and tens of thousands of commuters directly affected by the collapse of the bridge.

“We previously fielded our expertise on the occasion of the tragic collapse of the Genoa Bridge in Italy in 2018 (made at cost without profit for the group), which resulted in the death of 43 people and complete standstill of in the city and the port, among the most important in Italy,”

Ratti said: “Opting for a cable-stayed solution enables the piles to be positioned at a safe distance, well away from the navigation channel used by large vessels and hence preventing the risk of a tragedy such as the one of 26 March happening again.

“This approach also provides a light-weight solution to reconnect two sides of Baltimore, both socially and economically - what American infrastructure should be striving to do in the 21^st Century.”

Webuild is currently working towards persuading the Italian government to allow it to construct the world’s longest suspension bridge across the Strait of Messina, which it says can be built in six years.

Last summer it completed the second longest suspension bridge in Europe, the Braila Bridge across the Danube River in Romania, which it claims is a smaller version of what it would like to do for Messina.