As ships grow and seas rise, can Baltimore's port use new bridge to raise the roof?

“It’s about accommodating the right-sized ship, more than just a big ship,” he said in a statement.

Monroe also noted that logistical concerns mean it would not behoove many East Coast ports to aim to receive ships much larger than they already do. But “never say never,” he added. If it was up to him, he’d make the new Key Bridge 225 feet tall, to give “optimal flexibility.”

But there’s another vertical limitation on a ship’s way into the port: BGE power lines that run parallel to the Key Bridge and have a vertical clearance of 214 feet.

When asked about the potential height of the new bridge, Wiedefeld’s first thought were those cables: “It starts with the BGE line, that’s a certain height,” he said.

Before BGE erected those lines between 2020 and 2022, it received input in 2018 from the port administration “regarding current and potential future clearance requirements for shipping vessels,” BGE spokesperson Stephanie Weaver said in a statement. BGE is in “close communication” with officials regarding the reconstruction of the Key Bridge, she added.

Another variable is that, even if the Port of Baltimore never receives any ships taller than the ones it does now, the rising sea adds a challenge.

“That’s a whole ‘nother issue to weigh in, as well,” Wiedefeld said of Bay waters rising. “That’s definitely part of the analysis. You have to look at that.”

William Sweet, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration oceanographer, used to live in Annapolis and frequently took a sailboat under the Bay Bridge. Bay waters are just about guaranteed to rise a foot over the next 30 years, Sweet said.

Unless swift changes are made to carbon emissions, they’re expected to rise at a faster rate after that. A century from now, Bay waters are projected to be up at least 3 feet, and could be more than 5 feet higher. It depends on factors well beyond the Chesapeake Bay, including, Sweet noted, if ice sheets in Antarctica “become unhinged.”

“It could be higher,” he said of the Bay waters rising.

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