Baltimore and the Bridge

This one’s going to be pretty long, so bear with me. But if you are a reader who either currently lives or has lived in Baltimore, you will understand. Some of this post will be based on my memory, so if I make any misstatements, please comment and correct me.

I was born and grew up in Baltimore. I left in 1986 with my then fiancée (now wife of 37 years), although I commuted from Delaware to UMBC for almost a year (almost 80 miles each way, ugh!). I have moved multiple times since, spending the last 19 years in upstate NY. When the kids were young, we visited B’more 2 or 3 times a year. As everyone aged (and the kids’ grandparents passed on), the visits became less frequent, but recently I have made an effort to visit with some frequency. There have been some funerals, and I want to see family and friends who still live in and around town.

I am now going to talk about Baltimore at some length (this post is really more about the city than the recent tragedy, although I’ll get into that toward the end). For those of you unfamiliar with Baltimore, it was an important as well as populous city. The port was even more important 60 years ago than it is now, although obviously the port is still relevant. Bethlehem Steel was a huge supplier of steel to the world and employed tens of thousands of people. The McCormick spice company was based in Baltimore as was Domino Sugar (it’s the only one of the 3 that is still around). As late as 1970, Baltimore was one of the 10 most populous cities in the US (7th largest, with a population of 905,759, info courtesy of the US census). Below is a picture of the skyline/downtown in 1970 (taken from Facebook):

However, by the time the 2020 census was taken, the city’s population had dropped to 585,708, making it the 30th largest city in the US. Part of this was due to the growth and overall transfer of the US population Sout and West. But also, there was significant loss of population due to white flight, industries closed or left town, taking people with them, and crime became a serious problem, leading to the exodus of people of all incomes and ethnicities.

In the late 1970s, the downtown area at least made a comeback with the opening of Harborplace, a series of shops and restaurants along the inner harbor, but eventually, that faded as well, and the pandemic essentially shut it down for now (if not for good). And though there are still nice areas of the city, and a few areas have experienced a revival (Federal Hill, southeast Baltimore near Johns Hopkins Hospital), the city has fallen a long way, and the road back will be very difficult.

It should also be noted that Baltimore has always (IMO at least) had an inferiority complex. It was /still is compared to other northeastern cities like New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington DC, and Baltimore doesn’t have the history, wealth, or charm (despite the nickname “Charm City”) of these cities. It is seen as the poor stepchild of the Northeast by many, and this burns in the bodies of Baltimoreans. Even in sports, Baltimoreans desperately want the Orioles and Ravens to outperform the Yankees and Steelers. During the 60s and 70s, the Orioles and Bullets (basketball; yes, they had a team) fans were obsessed with beating the NY teams (I was one of them). When the Bullets moved to DC, I vowed never to root for them. Post-move, they were a good team for about 6 years (including their only NBA title), and since then they have mostly been terrible (vindication!). I won’t even talk about the move of the Colts to Indy (an absolute dagger at the time); I may dedicate a future entry about this one.

So that’s some city and personal history.

Although not unique to Baltimore, it was (at least while I lived there) a city very defined by neighborhoods (you could call it segregation if you wanted to). As a person who grew up in Northwest Baltimore in a neighborhood that was mostly Jewish with some African Americans, I had very little contact with folks living on the East side of town, where large neighborhoods with people of German, Polish, and Greek descent lived. There was at one time a thriving “Little Italy” adjacent to the inner harbor with lots of great Italian restaurants. Some of the restaurants are still there, but most of the Italians have vacated. South Baltimore (as in south of the harbor) was relatively poor and white in the 1960s. Roland Park was where blue-blooded WASPs lived. Our neighborhood was adjacent to large areas that were (and still are) populated by Blacks, in fact, the area around the duplex where I lived until I was 6 was mostly African American by the time my parents moved out. Their version of white flight carried us a few miles up the road from that area but still within the city limits. Most of my Baltimore-residing friends and relatives (with a few exceptions) live in the burbs north of the city. I don’t know if the neighborhoods are as defined as they were through the mid 1980s when I left the city. Anyone reading this who can enlighten us is welcome to comment.

So, as is indicated in the title of this entry, I want to talk about the Key Bridge collapse (I will try to tie it in with some of the book chapter I have written above). I’ve seen some live coverage on cable networks, and I’ve also reviewed coverage posted on You Tube by CBS News and NBC News. It’s pretty clear that the crash was an accident due to loss of power on the barge. And although it tragically caused the death of 6 men working on the bridge, it’s a minor miracle that once the mayday call came from the barge, the police were able to rapidly close the bridge to vehicle traffic, saving who knows how many lives. Kudos to them! And before I move on, will those who are blaming this on DEI or Joe Biden or some other conspiracy theory, please shut the Hell up. Same to those who are saying that the Federal Government shouldn’t be helping to re-open the port and rebuild the bridge. When disasters happen, no matter where they are or what caused them, the Federal Government should (and always does) help. In this case, Baltimore is still a major port for cars and heavy machinery, and the bridge is part of an interstate highway.

I will leave the issue of the port aside for now and focus on the (Francis Scott) Key Bridge. As most of you either know or have heard, the bridge was opened in 1978. It is part of I-695, a highway that circles the city. Before the Key Bridge was built, I-695 ended on the southwest and southeast sides of the city on each side of the harbor (I-695 was shaped like a horseshoe). The key bridge connected up the 2 sides of the highway. It also coincided with the construction and expansion of I-95 the major interstate of the East coast. Without getting too bogged down, the construction of the Key Bridge and the Fort McHenry Tunnel, which allowed I-95 to go through Baltimore, made vehicle travel through Baltimore travel much easier. There was (and still is) the older Baltimore Harbor Tunnel, but that is a more indirect route through the city than is the McHenry Tunnel. And as you probably know, Hazardous Materials (or HAZMATs) are not allowed in tunnels, so the Key Bridge takes a lot of truck traffic traveling on I-95 that cannot use the tunnels. With the Key Bridge out of service, those vehicles will have to go around the northern portion of I-695 to connect back up to I-95 (which, to be honest, isn’t a huge inconvenience; it probably adds about 10 minutes of drive time). The Key Bridge is also important for commuters who live and/or work south of the city, as well as the support businesses (like restaurants) in those areas. Confused? I kept this paragraph as short as I could while still trying to convey the importance of this bridge without boring you to pieces.

Interestingly, I don’t think I have crossed over the Key Bridge 10 times in my life. As previously stated, I rarely went to the southern areas of Baltimore and the suburbs around it. In fact, until I went to high school (which was located in NW Baltimore but had kids from all over the city attending), I knew almost no one beyond 5 miles of my residence. I don’t think this was uncommon. But it was nice to finally meet and befriend people from all over the city and compare notes. Later on, I went out with 2 women from the south side of Baltimore, which necessitated the occasional trip over the Key Bridge, Suffice it to say, however, that this accident will not only have some supply chain implications, but it will affect the ~15,000 people working for the Port of Baltimore, businesses in the vicinity of the bridge, and the 30,000 or so vehicles that crossed the bridge daily.

(Last paragraph, I promise) All this being said, this situation affects me personally as a person born and raised in Baltimore. It’s a city that has gone through some really hard times, and it’s a city that is looked down upon by much of the country. For a city that could really use some good news, this feels like piling on. I hope that the City and State governments make progress on the opening of the port and planning for the new bridge as quickly as possible (there are signs that removal of the debris is off to a good start). Maybe, somehow, the inhabitants of the city and state I used to call home and have many great memories of can rally around the cause and show the resolve of Baltimore and Maryland in the aftermath of serious disaster and hardship. This Baltimore boy is rooting for you!

#Baltimore

#Port of Baltimore

#Key Bridge

#CBS News

#NBC News