March 25, 2025
On March 26, 2024, Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed as the result of a container ship striking one of its main supports. The collapse tragically killed six workers and shuttered the Port of Baltimore for months, which disrupted international trade and resulted in a loss of income for thousands of port workers and workers in related businesses. As local, state, and federal government agencies responded, the daily lives of many Baltimore area residents were impacted as the bridge that was used by 35,000 daily commuters no longer existed, causing long term traffic issues.
In this research brief, we examine longer-term impacts of the collapse on the daily lives of Baltimore-area residents. We use data from the 2024 Baltimore Area Survey, which was in the field in fall 2024, approximately six to seven months after the collapse, to estimate these measures. In our initial report on the findings from the 2024 survey, we found that just under half of Baltimore area residents reported that their lives were affected by the Key Bridge collapse, with about one in ten reporting that it affected them “a great deal”. In this brief, we examine the responses to the full set of questions about the Key Bridge collapse to understand the impact of the bridge collapse on various aspects of residents’ daily lives, provide information on confidence in government response to the collapse, and confidence in the rebuild timeline.
Major findings include:
- Overall impact: Six to seven months after the collapse, we found that about half of Baltimore-area residents reported some level of impact.
- Impact on daily activities: A quarter of respondents said the collapse impacts their ability to get to work or see their friends and family. About 15% said it impacts their ability to run errands or get to medical appointments. Across all of these daily activities, about 37% of respondents report at least one is impacted.
- No difference in impact across demographic groups: We found no differences in impact by race, income, education, or employment status. The impact of the collapse was widespread, touching people of all income and education levels, all races, and people who were employed, unemployed, and retired.
- Proximity to bridge: Those that live closest to the bridge are the most impacted, with more than 60% of residents who live within 3 miles reporting some level of impact while 40% of those who live 15 miles or more from the bridge report impact. One third of residents living within three miles of the bridge report a great deal of impact.
- Government response: About 30% of residents said that the government response was good or very good. Most (about 60%) of residents said the government response was fair or moderate. Residents who report being most impacted by the collapse were two times more likely to say the government response was poor or very poor (30%).
- Confidence in rebuild timeline: About 70% of respondents have some level of confidence the government will be able to rebuild the bridge quickly, with 40% responding that they have quite a bit or a great deal of confidence.
- Timeline: A majority of respondents (over 70%) thought that it would take longer than 4 years to rebuild the bridge. Residents who were told that the government’s timeline to rebuild was 4 years were more likely to think that it was not achievable than those who were not told the timeline.