Like many Dundalk residents, Christine Golczynski vividly remembers the morning the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River. She woke up to a loud boom, surprised to hear what she thought was thunder on a night it wasn’t supposed to rain.

Ever since that moment in March, she’s had to live with the consequences of the bridge collapse: lost 18-wheelers rerouting through her neighborhood, 15-minute drives to Glen Burnie turning into 45-minute endeavors and now the start of the yearslong process to demolish and rebuild the bridge.

Golczynski was one of about 40 people who gathered at a public library in Dundalk Thursday evening for a public hearing on a newly unveiled plan to demolish the remainder of the bridge — the first step of a multiyear process to get drivers traversing the bridge once again.

Many residents who stepped up to the microphone at the hearing urged for one thing: They wanted the demolition and eventual rebuild to get started as soon as possible.

“We’re just asking for y’alls prayers, and that you do things speedily,” Muriel Gray, a Turner Station resident, told the group of Maryland officials sitting at the front of the meeting room at the North Point Branch of the Baltimore County Public Library.

Golczynski, who has lived in Dundalk for 40 years, said she attended the meeting so she can stay informed about the massive project happening close to her home. She wants the demolition to move with speed, but she understand that Dundalk residents need to be patient.

“Because it’s gonna be a four-year affair, traffic is going to be heavy for a while, and we just have to accept that,” she said.

In the early hours of March 26, a massive container ship, the Dali, slammed into one of the bridge’s support piers, causing the structure to crumble in seconds. Six construction workers who were repairing potholes on the bridge died in the catastrophe.

Last week, the Federal Highway Administration granted the state’s request to forgo a lengthy environmental impact study typically required of infrastructure projects on the grounds the new bridge will share many of the same characteristics as the old one.

The Maryland Transportation Authority plans to build a replacement with the same number of travel lanes (four) and in the same place as where the Dali struck the bridge, according to the federal approval document. It will also have a 4% grade on either side of the navigation channel, meaning the roadway will be just as steep, but will have wider outside shoulders in keeping with current design standards.

The federal environmental approval outlines four demolition phases, including the use of controlled explosives to bring down piers and remove “dolphins” — concrete barriers in the water meant to stop runaway ships.

The new bridge will have some important differences, according to the document, though designs are far from finalized. The future height clearance above the Patapsco River will be at least 230 feet, a minimum level set by the United States Coast Guard in June. That is 45 feet higher than the old bridge. The main span over the shipping channel will be at least 200 feet longer than the previous bridge.

The increased clearance won’t become useful until officials move forward with a new crossing over the Chesapeake Bay — ships headed for the Port of Baltimore first have to navigate the Bay Bridge, which has a similar clearance to the old Key Bridge.

The increase in height will require making the bridge nearly a mile longer; it also means demolishing what’s left of the old structure.

In a document submitted to the Maryland Department of the Environment for the wetlands license, the MDTA appears to have stricken the use of explosives in the water from the plan.

But Brian Wolfe, the director of project development for the MDTA, told reporters before the hearing that the use of explosives is still in play.

“Explosive use is the most efficient way to get that structure down to where it can be removed, so we are working with the agencies to get that permit,” Wolfe said. He added that the “superstructure” — the part of the bridge above the supporting pillars that includes the roadway — will be removed mechanically.

Linwood Jackson, a Turner Station resident, said he’s worried that the noise from the demolition will be reminiscent of the morning the bridge collapsed. He remembers the loud boom when crews used explosives in May to clear debris that was sitting atop the cargo ship.

“It shook our houses just as bad as when the bridge fell,” he said. “I can only imagine what it’s going to do now.”

The demolition process will also involve excavators, hydraulic hammers and cranes floating on barges in the Patapsco River.

Wayne Bosley, a lifelong Dundalk resident, attended the hearing because he’s worried that the new bridge will be renamed. Aside from the name, he said his top priority for the rebuild is “speed.”

An MDTA spokesperson said that the bridge is still referred to as the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and any process to choose a name for the replacement bridge is far down the road.

A separate hearing about the rebuilding of the bridge is scheduled for Sept. 17.