ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The moment that sticks in his mind the most from March 26th, 2024 - meeting with the families of the six men who had gone to work that night, and not come home. During the first of what would be many meetings, Governor Wes Moore remembers how the family members refused to give up hope. It wasn't until the second day of the search that he made the official call, after speaking with the Coast Guard, to transition from a rescue to a recovery mission.
"And I said to the Admiral, 'ok I just have one more question. In your professional opinion, what are the chances that someone is still alive?' And he said, 'Governor, in my personal assessment, the answer is zero,'" Governor Moore recalls. "I remember exactly where I was, sitting there talking on the phone. If you would've told me 1%, I would've said, 'keep searching.'"
But he intended to keep his promise, to find their loved ones.
"One of the family members kept saying to me, 'quiero el cuerpo,' which is just, 'I want the body,'" Gov. Moore told WMAR-2 News' Elizabeth Worthington.
He still keeps in touch with the families, and plans to join them as they sail out to the former site of the Key Bridge this week to mark the one-year anniversary.
The bodies of all six victims were recovered within almost six weeks. The Port of Baltimore was reopened after 11 weeks.
"I’m really proud of the response. I think Maryland put on a case study on how to respond in these moments of crisis," Gov. Moore said. "I’m really grateful that we got it done quickly. We cut through red tape, and we just moved to make sure we were bringing that closure to those families and reopening the federal channel. I just wish we didn’t have to do it in the first place."
On Thursday, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board blasted the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) for failing to conduct a vulnerability assessment. In 1991, in light of the Sunshine Skyway bridge collapse in Florida a decade earlier, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials recommended all bridge owners conduct such an assessment, to find out the risk of collapse from a ship collision.
Recap of NTSB's scathing report on the Key Bridge collapse
The MDTA never did it - not in 1991, or in 2009, when those recommendations were reiterated.
"MDTA would have known the risk and could have taken action to safeguard the Key Bridge," Chair Homendy said at a press conference last week. "Had they done that, the collapse could have been prevented."
WMAR-2 News' Elizabeth Worthington asked Governor Moore on Monday: "Does the state bear any responsibility? She [Homendy] said point blank, they could have helped prevent this. Do you not agree?"
The governor replied, "I think the NTSB is showing their frustration over these past decades, at a collection of different jurisdictions. The NTSB in their report indicated that close to 70 bridges fell under this, to include the iconic Golden Gate Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge. So I get it, and I understand the frustration of them. But I think no one, neither the NTSB or anyone else can argue that the reason we cannot look up and see the Key Bridge right now, is not because of a report they did in the 1990s. The reason we are looking up and we do not see a Key Bridge is because of the Dali, and it’s because of these reckless operators who knew that ship was losing power and continued to let it come out and then let it slam into one of our icons. And we lost six Marylanders because of it. I don’t think the NTSB, and no one else, can argue that that’s not the case."
Attention now turns to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which was included in the NTSB's list of bridges that have yet to be assessed for risk of collapse. The MDTA said in response to the NTSB's report: "As requested, the MDTA will provide an update to the NTSB within 30 days, which will include any action we intend to take based on our active evaluation of the pier protection systems, operational changes, and vessel transit procedures of the Bay Bridge. The evaluation is being conducted using American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials methodology and was underway when the NTSB requested its results last fall."
Governor Moore also emphasized the "amount of capital" that's been put towards improving the safety of the Bay Bridge over the years: "We put over $175 million over the past decade alone toward safety and security of the Bay Bridge. We also know that I authorized an additional $160 million to go towards Bay Bridge security after the collapse of the Key Bridge."
Looking ahead, Governor Moore said: "We are going to make sure that it doesn’t just meet up to federal standards and federal guidelines, but that we are really thinking- what are the unique challenges that our bridges could face that we are gonna be thinking ahead on?"
Governor Moore also reiterated that rebuilding the Key Bridge "as quickly as possible," is a priority. The MDTA projects construction will wrap up in 2028. Pre-construction is going on now. The next big step is demolishing the remaining pillars - that's expected to happen in late spring/early summer.
