Baltimore: City that lost an iconic bridge faces an uncertain future

BALTIMORE, Maryland - Not far from the ramp that leads to the elegant rusty-red arches of the downed Francis Scott Key Bridge, a policeman sat with a heavy heart.

- Bhagyashree Garekar

"I can't bear to go down there just yet," the young officer said as he sat in a parked police cruiser, its lights flashing to warn the public not to enter the cordoned-off area in Fort Armistead Park by the Patapsco River.

A lot remains to be known about the March 26 incident where the Singapore-flagged Dali, a vessel carrying 4,700 containers, rammed into the 2.6km, four-lane bridge after losing propulsion.

Within minutes, the bridge collapsed into the frigid waters.

The scene so vivid on TV screens, shot from helicopters and boats is a monochrome grey at this distance, a few hundred metres away.

The ramp rises above the river and ends abruptly in a mangled mass of steel.

The iconic 47-year-old bridge was a crucial link between Baltimore and the national capital, a conduit for commuters, tourists and goods moving in and around Baltimore.

But it was so much more.

Ms Tina Painter, 54, who works in the county transportation department, said she had not worked up the courage to go out to the river either.

"I want them to find all the people who went down with it first, and then give it some time," she said, stopping to talk while on a grocery run.

Eight people were believed to be on the bridge when it collapsed; two were rescued, and the bodies of two had been recovered as at March 28.