The controlled demolition of what’s left of the Francis Scott Key Bridge has been postponed until Monday due to adverse weather conditions, the U.S. Coast Guard said Sunday.
Initially it was supposed to happen Saturday, but the threat of poor weather got it pushed until Sunday. Predictions of lightning and rising tides that would make the operation dangerous forced another postponement, and it’s now slated to take place at 5 p.m. Monday.
Crews plan to break down the 500-foot-long, 600-ton bridge using a series of explosives they have been putting in place for weeks. The “precision cuts made with small charges” will split the span into sections that are more easily removable by cranes and barges, Key Bridge Response Unified Command said in a statement last week.
The part to be demolished lies atop the container ship Dali, which lost power and slammed into a bridge support column on March 26. The crew has been aboard the vessel since then and will remain there in a secure location during the demolition, officials said.
Six construction workers who were on the bridge at the time died, and the last body was recovered on Tuesday.
“Whenever there’s a lightning strike in the area, that pushes the clock back, and so that clock just kept getting pushed back and pushed back,” coast guard spokesman Nick Ameen told reporters Sunday, according to CNN.
With News Wire Services
