![Port of Baltimore shipping channel could fully reopen this weekend after removal of final collapsed bridge piece](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/dvids4.jpg?c=16x9&q=w_800,c_fill)
Port of Baltimore shipping channel could fully reopen this weekend after removal of final collapsed bridge piece
CNN
The Port of Baltimore channel could fully reopen this weekend after nearly 11 weeks of painstaking operations to remove massive pieces of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge that have been blocking much of the crucial shipping artery.
The Port of Baltimore channel could fully reopen this weekend after nearly 11 weeks of painstaking operations to remove massive pieces of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge that have been blocking much of the crucial shipping artery. The entire 700-foot wide channel is expected to reopen between Saturday and Monday, a step made possible by the removal of the last piece of steel bridge that has been blocking the channel since its collapse in March, the Unified Command said in an update. Clearing the final piece of bridge truss – a structure of interconnected concrete, cables and steel rebar – was completed earlier this week using concrete breakers, torches and underwater surveys, Unified Command said. Though crews last month were able to clear a limited, 400-foot avenue for vessels to pass through, the complete reopening of the channel will usher in a return to full operations at the port – an essential international cargo destination and employer of thousands of local workers. The 1.6-mile bridge crashed into the Patapsco River on March 26 after a 213-million pound cargo ship lost power and collided with one of the bridge’s support columns – killing six construction workers. The vessel remained stuck in the waterway for nearly two months as crews worked to remove a piece of the bridge pinning down its bow, finally hauling the ship away on May 20. The removal of the ship allowed for the temporary 400-foot channel to be opened. A pair of cruise ships set sail on May 27 from the Port of Baltimore for the first time since the bridge collapse.
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Texas executed Ramiro Gonzales by lethal injection on Wednesday for a 2001 murder, the state Department of Criminal Justice said, following unsuccessful appeals to the US Supreme Court that argued, in part, he should have been ineligible for the death penalty under state law because he is no longer dangerous.
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