Fifteen months after the Francis Scott Key Bridge’s main span collapsed into the Patapsco River, the rest of the structure finally has a demolition date.

Beginning “on or about July 7, weather permitting,” mechanical destruction of the bridge’s remnants will begin, the Maryland Transportation Authority said in a news release Thursday.

Since the Dali container ship lost power and plowed into the bridge on March 26, 2024, killing six construction workers, the bridge’s still-standing ramps have served as an eerie reminder of the catastrophe. They will be brought down to make way for the replacement span.

“Demolition work is expected to take several months to complete and will involve the use of heavy machinery to carefully dismantle the remaining portions of the Key Bridge,” the news release stated.

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Segments of the bridge over the water will first be demolished, followed by the roadway over Hawkins Point and then Sollers Point. Crews will use machinery such as excavators, concrete saws, vacuums, cranes and trucks.

The authority said last year that it planned to destroy the bridge’s remnants by the fall, but that target date was pushed to winter, then spring, and now this summer.

Letters sent to the Maryland Department of the Environment by the authority previously indicated that explosives would be used as part of the demolition, but that will not be the case — at least not initially.

“Controlled detonations will not be used during this phase of demolition,” Thursday’s release said.

A massive piece of bridge sitting atop the Dali was blasted apart last year as part of salvage efforts. Demolition of the remaining bridge structures, however, will be a much more methodical process as pieces are cut up and removed.

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Meanwhile, roughly 150 engineers are working on expeditiously designing the new bridge. The cable-stayed bridge will have two tall towers with cables jutting out from the top, forming webs of support for the roadway beneath. Its tallest point will be more than 600 feet above the river, which is significantly taller than the old bridge’s 358 feet.

Preconstruction work, such as collecting topographic data and boring into the Patapsco riverbed, began in January, and actual construction is set to begin by the end of the year.

The new span is expected to cost just under $2 billion and be completed by October 2028.