Scott Mascione

In March of last year, a cargo ship hit the bridge, causing its collapse.

Transportation officials say they're currently driving test piles into the Patapsco River bed.

Jim Harkness is the chief engineer at MDTA.

We're testing these to 10 million pounds.

So this is the support for the new bridge.

It's a very large bridge.

We need to make sure that we have competent foundations.

Tests will be conducted in the coming months to assess the soil's ability to hold the weight of the new bridge.

The bridge's design is about 70 percent complete, and the state's hoping to have it fully rebuilt by fall of 2028.

For NPR News, I'm Scott Mascione in Baltimore.