The Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) is hoping to put the rebuild of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge back on track, issuing a request for qualifications to design and build the new bridge’s centerpiece main span and marine approaches.
With an estimated construction budget of up to $4 billion, the contract is the largest procurement of MDTA’s revised strategy to restore the critical crossing following the agency’s April decision to off-ramp design-build contractor Kiewit Infrastructure Co. from the project amid rising costs and a lengthening delivery timeline to replace the original bridge which collapsed in March 2024, killing six construction workers.
According to the RFQ, which is due August 19, the design-build contract calls for construction of a four-lane, 3,365-ft-long bridge with a 1,665-ft-long, cable-stayed main span that provides a minimum 230-ft clearance over the Patapsco River federal navigation channel. Also included are a vessel protection system for piers supporting the two 602-ft main concrete pylons, approximately 660 ft of bridge over water on the south approach and approximately 1,560 ft of bridge over water on the north.
Cost tops the MDTA’s goals for the project, according to the RFQ, following by sequencing construction in order to have the new toll bridge fully open “as near to December 31, 2030 as practicable,” with minimal disruption to maritime traffic, the Port of Baltimore and surrounding communities. Other priorities include ensuring worker safety, and utilizing materials, construction and operational aspects that deliver “a resilient and aesthetically pleasing bridge” with a minimum 100-year service life.
MDTA plans to shortlist design-build teams by mid-October, with a final selection and notice to proceed to be announced in summer 2027.
The rebuild’s other three elements—demolition of the marine structures still remaining from the original bridge and construction of the north and sound and land approaches—will be solicited as design-bid-build contracts later this year, and carried out concurrent with the design-build project. MDTA has previously said the entire rebuild can be completed for under $5 billion—significantly less than estimates announced during its failed negotiations with Kiewit for the second phase of the original progressive design-build procurement.
Kiewit is ineligible to compete for the new design-build contract, as are most of its subcontractors hired under its initial $73-million phase 1 contract, which is in its final stages. Scope of work for phase 1 includes driving permanent 8-ft-diameter main span foundation piles up to 230 ft long near the federal navigation channel, and building a temporary construction trestle that will provide equipment and material access to the main span work area.
In May, families of the six construction workers who died when the original Key Bridge collapsed, as well as the incident’s lone survivor, reached a confidential settlement with the owner and operator of the MV Dali, the container ship that struck the bridge and caused the collapse.
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