The Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) opened bidding on August 25 for the Demolition and Miscellaneous Marine Work contract, the second of four procurements planned for rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The scope covers removal of two remaining steel girder units over the Patapsco River, partial demolition of eight marine piers, full demolition of two land piers, and clean-out of 96-inch steel pipe piles from the original structure. MDTA expects to award the work through sealed competitive bidding, with construction starting as early as fall 2026 at an anticipated cost of $50 million to $100 million, the smallest of the four planned contracts.
MDTA Executive Director Bruce Gartner has said the demolition work is not holding up construction already underway elsewhere on the site, but that clearing the remaining structures is still necessary and is proceeding on a track parallel to the agency's other procurements. Crews are currently driving permanent foundation piles and assembling an over-water work platform, known as a trestle.
Maryland Split the Rebuild Into Four Contracts After Off-Ramping Kiewit
The four-contract structure dates to May 2026, when MDTA restructured the project after Kiewit Infrastructure Co., its original design-build contractor, proposed Phase 2 pricing the agency said far exceeded its own independent cost estimates. MDTA used a standard design-build provision to remove Kiewit from the next phase rather than accept that price, though Kiewit remains on site finishing its roughly $73 million Phase 1 scope, including the pile driving and trestle work, and is now ineligible, along with most of its subcontractors, to compete for the new main span contract.
The two land-approach contracts carry more modest price tags by comparison: the south approach is estimated at $300 million to $400 million and the north approach at $200 million to $300 million. MDTA Chief Engineer Jim Harkness has said splitting the rebuild into four smaller packages, rather than one large design-build contract, was intended to widen the pool of bidders and create more room for regional subcontractors, a consideration that carries extra weight as skilled trades shortages reshape how contractors staff and price large infrastructure jobs nationally.
The Main Span Contract Alone Costs More Than the Original Full Rebuild Estimate
The largest piece of the project, a design-build contract for the main span and marine approaches, entered procurement first, with qualifications due August 19 against an anticipated cost of $3.5 billion to $4 billion, more than the entire project's original $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion preliminary estimate. The planned cable-stayed span will run 1,665 feet, with a total bridge length of 3,365 feet and 230 feet of clearance above the federal channel, and will include a vessel-collision protection system around the main pylon piers. That system responds directly to a National Transportation Safety Board finding that a loose signal wire aboard the container ship Dali triggered the blackout that caused it to lose propulsion and steering, and that the bridge's piers separately lacked adequate protection against a vessel strike. Six highway workers died in the collapse.
MDTA says it remains confident the full rebuild will stay within the $4.3 billion to $5.2 billion range it announced in November 2025, with an opening targeted for late 2030. The state aims to select contractors for the two land-approach packages by late spring 2027, while the main span award is expected to extend into next summer. Whether four separately timed contracts hold that schedule, rather than adding the kind of sequencing risk now showing up across other large infrastructure builds, will become clearer once bids on the demolition contract come back this fall.
