Striking sonar images show collapsed Baltimore bridge underwater

The Army Corps of Engineers hopes to reopen the shipping channel by May.

ByLuis Martinez
Video byJulian Kim and Emmanuelle Saliba
April 10, 2024, 3:20 PM

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday released striking new 3D sonar images that capture an underwater view of the debris from the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.

The bridge, which is mostly intact underwater in Baltimore's harbor, demonstrates the challenges ahead for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as it moves forward with plans to reopen a shipping channel at that location in May.

The dramatic color images taken Tuesday by a CODA sonar system show large portions of the bridge's arched steel beams lying below the water's surface. The beams have to be removed for the Corps to reopen the channel.

Naval Sea Systems Command Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV) used the sonar system to survey the underwater debris area.

The close-up sonar image shows the bridge wreckage in the deepest part of the federal Port of Baltimore Shipping Channel and one of the Francis Scott Key Bridge's main supports.

PHOTO: This sonar image shows bridge wreckage in the deepest part of the federal Port of Baltimore Shipping Channel (left), and one of the Francis Scott Key Bridge main supports (center), Apr. 9, 2024.
This sonar image shows bridge wreckage in the deepest part of the federal Port of Baltimore Shipping Channel (left), and one of the Francis Scott Key Bridge main supports (center), Apr. 9, 2024.
Bobby Petty/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District

A wider-scale image captures a view of that debris-covered federal channel and one of the two temporary alternate channels that the Corps has created to accommodate empty barges, small tugboats and survey vessels can be seen at the far right of the image..

PHOTO: This sonar CODA image shows bridge wreckage in the deepest part of the federal Port of Baltimore Shipping Channel, and one of the Francis Scott Key Bridge main supports.
This sonar CODA image, provided by the U.S. Navy’s Naval Sea System Command, Supervisor of Salvage and Diving shows bridge wreckage in the deepest part of the federal Port of Baltimore Shipping Channel, and one of the Francis Scott Key Bridge main supports.
Bobby Petty/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District

The metal tress framework, seen in the center of a third image, is currently slated to be removed by the end of April and will create a narrow 35-foot-deep by 280-foot-wide limited access channel that will enable larger vessels to transit in and out of the Port of Baltimore to include marine tugs, Maritime Administration (MARAD) vessels and those used for Roll-on/Roll-off (RoRo) shipping.

PHOTO: This sonar image shows bridge wreckage in the deepest part of the federal Port of Baltimore Shipping Channel (center), and one of the Francis Scott Key Bridge main supports (right).
This sonar image, provided by the U.S. Navy’s Naval Sea System Command Supervisor of Salvage and Diving shows bridge wreckage in the deepest part of the federal Port of Baltimore Shipping Channel (center), and one of the Francis Scott Key Bridge main supports (right).
Bobby Petty/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District

The area to the left of that same image shows the height measurements from the top of the underwater bridge wreckage to the surface of the Patapsco River that will help engineers plan for the wreckage removal and the dredging operations that will create the much wider and deeper federal channel.

President Joe Biden visited Baltimore last Friday to visit the scene of the collapsed bridge and pledged that the federal government will pay 100% of the cost of building a new bridge. Biden's financial proposal has garnered support from congressional leaders.