Hazmat and over-height freight out of the Port of Baltimore until 2030: the routing playbook

The bridge is gone until late 2030, and the tunnels do not take your load

The Francis Scott Key Bridge carried I-695 across the Patapsco River until March 26, 2024, when the container ship Dali struck it. Six workers died. The shipping channel reopened at its full 700-foot width and 50-foot depth on June 10, 2024. The road did not come back.

The first rebuild plan said $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion and an opening in fall 2028. In November 2025 the Maryland Transportation Authority revised that to $4.3 billion to $5.2 billion and an opening in late 2030. Officials have said the date could stretch beyond 2030. Before the collapse the bridge carried more than 34,000 vehicles a day, including more than 3,000 commercial trucks.

Every one of those trucks now crosses the harbor through the I-95 Fort McHenry Tunnel or the I-895 Baltimore Harbor Tunnel, or it goes around. For most freight the tunnel route adds about 9 to 10 miles. For hazmat and oversize freight the tunnels are closed, and the detour is the whole west side of the Baltimore Beltway.

This is the playbook for that freight. If you move batteries, chemicals, tank containers or tall machinery through Baltimore, read the tunnel rule first and build every lane from it.

The rule that drives everything

Both harbor tunnels bar placarded hazmat. They also bar loads over 14 feet 6 inches tall and loads over 11 feet wide. A load that fails any one of these tests may not use I-95 or I-895 across the harbor. It takes the western loop of I-695, which trucking executives put at 30 to 35 extra miles and 45 to 60 extra minutes per leg.

The rule is enforced. Police have documented illegal hazmat transits through the tunnels and are on alert for them. Baltimore 3PL places hazmat and oversize freight only with drayage partners whose permits and routing fit the cargo, and we price the loop into the lane from day one. The port-side reference is at /port/key-bridge-truck-routing/.

Congestion is the second cost. Tunnel traffic is up about 15 percent since the collapse, and corridor congestion is up at least 25 percent.

The rebuild timeline, as of fall 2026

Package	What it covers	Status
Demolition and marine work	Remove remaining structure	Bids accepted August 25, 2026, work from late 2026
South land approach	Roadway on the Anne Arundel side	Bid summer 2026, start fall 2026
North land approach	Roadway on the Baltimore County side	Bid fall 2026 to winter 2027, start spring 2027
Main span, pier protection, marine approaches	The bridge itself, estimated $3.5 billion to $4.0 billion	Qualifications requested July 21, 2026, construction from summer 2027

The over-water work trestle is complete and permanent foundation piles are being driven. Congress set the federal share at 100 percent in December 2024. Nothing in that schedule gives a hazmat shipper relief before 2030. Plan four full years of detour.

The geography: east side or south side of the harbor

Baltimore’s port splits across the Patapsco. The side your cargo lands on decides whether the bridge matters at all.

East side. Seagirt Marine Terminal (containers) and Dundalk Marine Terminal (ro-ro, breakbulk, machinery, forest products) sit on the east side, in the Dundalk area. Tradepoint Atlantic, the private port and logistics park at Sparrows Point, sits farther east on the same shore.

South side. The Fairfield and Masonville auto terminals, Curtis Bay and the Anne Arundel County industrial belt around BWI, Glen Burnie and Hanover sit on the south and west side.

Lane	Ordinary freight	Hazmat or over-height
Sparrows Point to Dundalk or Seagirt	Surface roads, no bridge, no tunnel	Same. This lane never needed the bridge
Seagirt or Dundalk north to I-95 toward Philadelphia	I-95 north, no harbor crossing	Same
Seagirt or Dundalk west to I-70 or I-83	I-695 north and west, no harbor crossing	Same, no detour penalty
Seagirt or Dundalk to Curtis Bay, Fairfield or BWI	Tunnel, about 9 to 10 extra miles	I-695 west loop, 30 to 35 extra miles, 45 to 60 extra minutes
Seagirt or Dundalk to I-95 south toward Washington	Tunnel	I-695 west loop to I-95 south
Sparrows Point to Anne Arundel County	Tunnel	I-695 west loop

Two lessons fall out of the table. First, east-to-east moves are untouched. A hazmat container that lands at Seagirt and goes to a partner warehouse at Sparrows Point or Dundalk never sees a tunnel. Second, anything hazmat or tall that must reach the south side or the I-95 south corridor carries the full loop until 2030. Put the warehouse on the same side as the cargo and most of the problem disappears. See /locations/sparrows-point/ and /locations/curtis-bay/ for the two sides.

Planning rules by cargo type

Battery energy storage containers

Containerized lithium-ion battery energy storage systems ship as Class 9 hazmat, UN3536 for the containerized unit and UN3480 for cells. They cannot use the harbor tunnels. They are also often heavy and tall on a chassis. Maryland targets 800 megawatts of storage under the Next Generation Energy Act of 2025, so this freight is coming. Plan the port-to-site haul on the loop, confirm the loaded height, and stage units at an east-side partner yard if the project site is across the harbor. Our page at /industries/battery-energy-storage/ covers the handling rules.

Chemicals and tank containers

Any placarded load takes the loop. The practical issue is tender language. Many drayage tenders still assume the bridge route or ignore the question. State the UN number and class on the tender, name the loop as the required route, and set the free time at the receiver to reflect a longer leg.

Machinery on RGN trailers

Baltimore is the No. 1 US port for ro-ro farm and construction machinery, with 887,513 tons in 2025, most of it over Dundalk. A removable-gooseneck (RGN) trailer drops the deck so a tall machine rides lower. The test is loaded height, not machine height. If the loaded height is over 14 feet 6 inches, or the width over 11 feet, the move takes the loop and the permit that goes with it. Measure before you tender. The heavy-lift detail is at /industries/heavy-equipment/ and /services/project-cargo-breakbulk/.

Worked example: the cost of the loop on a project

Every figure here is an assumption chosen to show the method, not a quoted rate.

Assume a battery storage project in Anne Arundel County that receives 40 containerized units over the ro-ro and container terminals on the east side. Assume a drayage partner prices the move at $4.25 per loaded mile all-in, and assume the detour adds 35 miles each way with the chassis returning empty to the port.

Extra distance per unit: 35 miles out plus 35 miles back, 70 miles
Extra cost per unit at the assumed rate: about $298
Extra cost across 40 units: about $11,900
Extra driver time per unit at an assumed 60 minutes each way: about 2 hours

Now assume the receiver allows two hours of free time per delivery and charges an assumed $110 an hour after that. If the site cannot unload a tall unit inside the window because the crane is busy, the detour pushes every late arrival into waiting time. One hour of waiting on 40 units is another $4,400 at these assumptions.

Both numbers were avoidable with a different staging plan. Stage the 40 units at a partner yard at Sparrows Point, on the east side, and release them to the site on a schedule the crane can meet. The port-to-yard leg has no detour. The yard-to-site leg still takes the loop, but it runs on your clock, not the vessel’s.

What to put in a tender

The cargo class, UN number and packing group, or the words “not regulated” if that is true
Loaded height and width on the intended trailer, measured, not estimated
The required route in words: “no harbor tunnel transit, I-695 west loop required”
Transit time that includes the detour, not the pre-2024 bridge time
Who pays waiting time at the receiver, and how much free time applies
Whether an escort or a state oversize permit is needed, and who obtains it
The staging plan: direct from the terminal, or via an east-side partner yard
A rate structure with the detour visible as its own line, so you can audit it

A tender written this way gets honest bids. A tender that leaves the route blank gets a low bid from a carrier that plans to use the tunnel and a surprise when the police stop the truck.

What to do now

List every lane you run through Baltimore and mark each one hazmat, over-height, over-width, or none.
Put each lane on the east-side or south-side table above and find the ones that cross the harbor.
For those lanes, add 30 to 35 miles and 45 to 60 minutes to the plan and reprice.
Ask whether the warehouse or yard could sit on the same side as the cargo. For hazmat the answer is often yes, and it removes the detour from the port leg.
Rewrite your drayage tender with the list in the section above.
Set a review date for the 2027 main-span contract award. The schedule will firm up then, but the detour will not change.

Baltimore 3PL runs this through one desk. The desk picks the drayage partner whose permits fit the class, prices the loop openly, and stages at partner yards on the right side of the harbor. The hazmat specifics are at /services/hazmat-logistics/ and the drayage page is at /services/drayage/. Dundalk terminal facts are at /port/dundalk-marine-terminal/.

What to send for a quote

Commodity, hazmat class and UN number, or a statement that the cargo is not regulated
Loaded height, width, length and gross weight on the trailer you expect to use
Terminal of arrival: Seagirt, Dundalk, Fairfield, Tradepoint Atlantic or another
Delivery address and whether it is east, south or west of the harbor
Number of units and the arrival pattern, one vessel or many
Receiving hours, unloading equipment on site, and free time offered
Whether you want staging at a partner yard before final delivery
Any escort, permit or insurance requirement your project already carries