Music, mural mark memorial for workers killed in Key Bridge collapse near where recovery work goes on

A memorial area, complete with a special mural, has taken over the side of the road in front of the blockade to Fort Armistead Park.

The construction workers who were killed when the Key Bridge collapsed are honored with hard hats, construction boots and safety vests lovingly hung on several crosses that marked the perimeter of a circle of candles, flowers and other tokens of remembrance.

Community members gathered and talked to each other about the unbelievable event nearly two weeks ago.

Muralist Roberto Marquez from Dallas drove to Maryland after seeing news coverage of the bridge collapse. Marquez says the message of the mural is to keep the memory of these brothers alive, to honor them and to immortalize them.

The woman on the mural holds her grief and pain in her hands, represented by a human figure. The bridge gets larger as the mural goes on, and a red truck is falling.

“This is something very difficult; the pain won’t go away. I think it’s a good gesture, you know, for them and for the community. We like to send the message that we are together and that we care,” Marquez said. He hopes to find a place to donate the mural in the future.

As Marquez painted the names of the men onto several pairs of boots to be hung, music was flowing through the memorial site.

A local band, Clave Diferente, donated its services Saturday.

Guitarist Daniel Ramirez said it was personal.

“From the bottom of our hearts, we feel great pain in this event,” he said, speaking on behalf of the band. “We can only imagine our parents, our fathers going out to work that night and just not coming back.”

The chilly wind moved through the site, but the candles remained burning. The flags of Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, along with the United States flag, blew in the breeze, beckoning people to come to the site and pay their respects to those who work on the bridges they drive over every day.

The memorial took place as salvage work continued at the site where the Dali crashed into the bridge March 26.

The Unified Command, a group of local, state and federal agencies working to clear the Patapsco River, removed a 156-ton piece of the bridge outside of the navigational channel. The wreckage was hoisted and loaded onto a barge for future disposal on Saturday.

Ten vessels passed through an alternate channel Friday and Saturday, as traffic on the river is slowly increasing, the command said in a statement.

Kaitlin Newman

Kaitlin.Newman@thebaltimorebanner.com

Kaitlin Newman is a photojournalist specializing in multimedia coverage. Her main areas of focus are politics, conflict, feature and breaking news. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a Master’s Degree in Professional Writing from Towson University, which is where she is also the professor of photojournalism.

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