Industry

Baltimore Bridge Collapse: All Routes Open to Waterfront for MGK Conference

March 27, 2024

Staff with both the Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Marriott Waterfront Hotel have encouraged current guests, and Microgrid Knowledge attendees next month, to seek out local traffic updates to ensure as smooth a commute as possible.

Rod Walton, Managing Editor

BALTIMORE—The collision of a cargo ship into a pillar supporting the Francis Scott Key Bridge has caused tragic consequences with the lives of six people who are presumed dead.

The bridge collapse also has forced a rerouting of traffic which normally would have crossed the bridge, as well as likely slowing or even stopping the near-term flow of export and import goods, such as automobiles, into the port. The bridge will be rebuilt and perhaps soon, but the devastating impact will be felt for many years.

We at Microgrid Knowledge are stunned and saddened by the accident and its consequences on the human scale.

Our Microgrid Knowledge Conference is scheduled April 22-24 at the Marriott Waterfront along Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The event is going ahead as planned as the city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) says there is no direct logistical impact on the area or venue where Microgrid Conference 2024 is taking place at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel.

The hotel continues to operate normally, although staff and the surrounding community are understandably in shock about the accident and resulting loss of life. Staff with both the CVB and Marriott Waterfront have encouraged current guests, and Microgrid Knowledge attendees next month, to seek out local traffic updates to ensure as smooth a commute as possible.

The routes from the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and other nearby major airports to the Marriott Waterfront are not directly impacted nor typically cross the Francis Scott Key Bridge to get to the Inner Harbor hotels. Even so, travelers are encouraged to use I-95 and I-895 as alternative routes if needed, according to the Maryland Department of Transportation.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge was built in the 1970s. News reports indicate that the cargo ship may have suffered from electrical issues causing it to drift off-course and into the bridge pillar.

The team from Microgrid Knowledge and Endeavor Business Media are cognizant and sensitive to the toll caused by the accident, but are still excited about coming to the historic, beautiful city April 22-24 as the event happens. We will deliver more information on our time in Baltimore as we get closer.

About the Author

Rod Walton, Managing Editor | Managing Editor

For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

I’ve spent the last 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023.

I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 33-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future.

Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.