‘We heard a loud crash’

On March 26, the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore was struck by a Maersk-chartered ship headed for Sri Lanka and collapsed into the Patapsco River.

The effects from the collapse of the bridge will be felt for months – even years – to come.

OOIDA members Becky and Trent Wilmoth, husband-and-wife team drivers, own and operate Family Tradition Motor Lines LLC in Trinity, N.C.

They were parked along their usual route just a few miles from the Key Bridge when it was struck by the ship and collapsed.

“We normally run a load up to Baltimore two to three times a week,” Becky Wilmoth said. “We got up there about 12:45 a.m., and we don’t always go right to sleep; we sit up a little bit. About 1:30 a.m., we heard a loud crash. There’s an Amazon distribution center and a railyard right behind us. We didn’t know if it was something from that or what the case was. It wasn’t until the morning that we found out what it was.”

Of course, that next morning was anything but their typical delivery to the Baltimore area.

“We deliver across the port from (the Key Bridge) and go over near Sparrows Point to pick up a load and come back home,” Becky Wilmoth said. “We would have gone over the bridge around 9 in the morning. We were about 3 miles away, and our first load is right at Dundalk Port.”

Trent Wilmoth has 32 years of experience as a professional driver and said there weren’t many situations he could recall where traffic in and out of an area was so difficult outside of 9/11.

“This is going to affect commodities that come in and out of the port for months,” he said. “There are ships out at sea waiting to come in. Those are full of commodities, food and everything else that go into warehouses in Baltimore to load back out.”

In the days following the Key Bridge collapse, OOIDA offered its resources through conversations with local, state and federal agencies.

Everything from waiving tolls, alternate routes and hours-of-service exemptions were discussed.

OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh told Land Line in the days following the Key Bridge collapse that the resourcefulness of truckers would prove beneficial.

The Wilmoths were evidence of that sentiment, utilizing their familiarity with the region and help from business associates to finish making their delivery.

“Where we deliver, we typically know the people, and they were able to get us around using a route that was still a safe truck route,” Becky Wilmoth said. “It actually ended up being shorter, and there were no tolls. So that was nice. But within a 10-mile drive, I would say there was a good 15 or 20 trucks just parked on the side of the road trying to figure out how to get around it. That morning, there was a lot of scattering. People didn’t know which way to go or how to get where they needed to go without using the bridge. We were fortunate to have somebody that we knew that could tell us how to get around it without having any issues.”

Looking long-term, that route change the Wilmoths could be forced to take due to the Key Bridge collapse would come with an added cost.

“Just playing with the numbers, we figured that if it takes five years to rebuild the bridge, it would cost us about $6,000 extra in fuel to go around it,” Becky Wilmoth said.

But the couple doesn’t see an immediate need to change their business operations just yet.

“We have a dedicated run, so we probably won’t change anything in the near future,” she added. “If it gets to a point where we’re not making money, then it will likely change. As of right now, we’ll stay the course and keep going.” LL