Discussion Paper

The Impact of the Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse on Fifth District Firms

Abstract: The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 26 killed six people, severed a major interstate highway, and temporarily closed the Port of Baltimore. This Macro Minute blog post last month discussed potential regional economic effects as well as several reasons to be hopeful for the port's long-term recovery upon reopening. Between March 28 and April 17 in our April manufacturing and service sector surveys, to assess its immediate economic impact, we asked Fifth District firms to report if and how the bridge collapse will impact their businesses. Overall, 30 percent of Fifth District firms anticipated some level of impact from the bridge collapse. However, the impact was expected to be small and concentrated among Maryland-based and port-reliant firms (e.g., transportation, warehousing, retail).

Keywords: Baltimore; 5th district; bridge collapse effects;

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond

Part of Series: Regional Matters

Publication Date: 2024-05-03