As the MDTA’s chief engineer, Jim Harkness has been thrust into Baltimore’s most consequential infrastructure project in decades.
At 1:34 a.m., the phone rang, and Jim Harkness reached toward its glow in the dark. One of his employees at the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) broke the news. Five minutes earlier, a ship had collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Details were scant until more calls came in quick succession and the full picture began to emerge.
“I started getting my stuff together,” says Harkness, “and headed into work.”
As chief engineer for MDTA, which operates the state’s eight toll roads, Harkness’ office was, and still is, at the agency’s Sollers Point site in Dundalk, just north of the iconic steel truss structure. He drove the 47-year-old bridge twice daily on his commute from Carroll County, enjoying the sunrise over the water or views of downtown Baltimore at dusk…