By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
And
Megan Sayles
AFRO Staff Writer
msayles@afro.com
Nearly a year ago, the Dali container ship lost power and struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing the structure to plunge into the Patapsco River at 1:29 a.m. on March 26, 2025. At the time of the collision, eight construction workers were filling potholes on the bridge and were sent crashing into the water. Only two survived.
The disaster temporarily halted access to the Port of Baltimore, the leading U.S. port for automobiles, farm machinery, sugar and gypsum. For 11 weeks, salvage teams worked to remove roughly 50,000 tons of the structure’s concrete and steel from the channel. On June 10, 2024, access to the shipping channel was fully restored.
Courtney Speed is a long-time resident of Turner Station, a Black community in Dundalk, Md., and the owner of Speed’s Barber and Beauty Shop. Baltimoreans impacted by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge say the incident has only further isolated the historically African-American neighborhood in the past year, as they recover from the loss of the structure. (Dali cargo photo Credit: AFRO Photo / James Fields; and Courtney Speed photo Credit: AFRO Photo / Megan Sayles)
Though rebuilding efforts are underway, communities remain disconnected. Arthur Alexander, a resident of Baltimore County’s Turner Station neighborhood, recalled the day the bridge fell.
“I heard it collapse,” said Alexander. “I didn’t know it was the bridge. I thought it was a bad truck accident on the access road.”
Alexander, 73, said he found out what that noise was when a relative called and notified him that the bridge had collapsed. Upon realizing it had collapsed, Alexander said he immediately thought it would be a problem. And it was.
With the structure down, businesses that relied on bridge traffic have been disconnected from their regular customers. With no bridge, truck traffic has been rerouted to the neighboring communities’ streets, including Turner Station, a historically Black neighborhood. Traffic on the major surrounding roads has significantly increased, as big trucks have been forced to join the regular volume of private and commercial traffic through the city.
“Sometimes it takes me almost a half hour to get from the East Avenue ramp to Moravia Road, where it usually takes five minutes,” said Alexander.
Gloria Nelson, president of the Turner Station Conservation Teams, spoke to how Black residents in the area have been impacted.
“It has isolated the community a little more. We don’t have that connection,” said Nelson, as the bridge provided quicker ways to get around the city and county.
Her organization is working to revitalize Turner Station, which is the largest, historic African-American community in Baltimore County. With the attention brought by the disaster, she hopes the community’s concerns are prioritized.
“Hopefully, we can gain some additional partners to help with needs,” said Nelson. The community already has partnerships with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Maryland Department of Transportation and Tradepoint Atlantic, which owns property across the water from the community.
A legacy at risk
Courtney Speed is the 85-year-old owner of the last remaining African-American owned business in Turner Station. She started her shop, Speed’s Barber and Beauty, with her late husband in the 1960s.
Speed noted that her business faced challenges even before the collapse.
“The detriment for our barber and beauty salon is that the majority of our clients are gone. The styles of hair now are nowhere near the shampoo, press and curl,” said Speed. “Eventually, we want to repurpose the barber and beauty shop as a museum on the day’s that we’re off because right now, we don’t even have a full day of work.”
While the collapse of the Key Bridge illuminated immediate concerns for Turner Station residents, Speed noted that the neighborhood has already been grappling with decades of disinvestment.
Turner Station was once a self-sustaining African-American community. During World Ward I and World Ward II, the community was a thriving steel town as most residents were employed by Bethlehem Steel. It also had its own distinct cluster of businesses that were run by African Americans.
“During that 1800 and 1900 period, money turned over in this community eight times before leaving,” said Speed. “There were gas stations, barber shops, beauty salons, funeral homes, dress shops and grocery stores.”
That is no longer the case.
“Investors are taking the homes and land that our ancestors migrated here to work for and repairing them and selling them for prices that we will never be able to afford,” said Speed. “They are not burning us down as they did in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but they are pricing us out.”
In February, Speed said 15 Turner Station families were evicted in the cold. Turner Station has also been facing a food desert, or an area where residents have limited access to affordable, healthy food. According to Speed, the closest full-service grocery store is four to five miles away.
She said her community will not accept gentrification or erasure. She has spearheaded a movement called “Save the Nation of Turner Station,” which calls for one billion people to donate $1 or more to “replicate, repair, repopulate and repurpose” the historical community. Donations can be mailed to Speed’s shop at 201 Main Street Turner Station, MD 21222 or sent through Zelle to 410-340-4888.
“We are fighting for our life without being employed by Bethlehem Steel, which has gone out of business; General Motors, which was here before and is now out of business; and Lever Brother’s soap company, which has gone out of business also,” said Speed. “How can we survive?”
The Maryland Department of Transportation continues to engage with the Turner Station community, working to address their concerns about how the collapse has impacted their community and how the Key Bridge rebuilding process may affect them.
The bridge is expected to be rebuilt and fully reopened by fall 2028.
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