At 1:29 am on March 26, 2024, a cargo ship collided (or, more accurately, allided) with the Francis Scott Key Bridge near Baltimore, Maryland. The bridge fell into the Patapsco River in a matter of seconds, immediately blocking all shipping traffic to and from the nearby Port of Baltimore and halting all travel across Interstate 695, which ran across the collapsed bridge. Within hours, Maryland Governor Wes Moore and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott each declared a state of emergency. Authorities shut down the Port of Baltimore, and Interstate 695 is closed for the foreseeable future. It will take weeks to clear away the wreckage of the bridge to allow shipping traffic to resume. Rebuilding the bridge and resuming the flow of traffic across it will take many months, if not years.