Loss of Key Bridge leads to more potholes, truck traffic in neighborhoods

“I haven’t seen the roads this bad in a long while,” said Christopher Miskimon, owner of CKM Transport, a trucking firm in Sparrows Point. “The roads used to be taken care of pretty decent, redone and kept up for the most part, but now it just seems it’s just getting worse and worse.”

Miskimon said the roads wear down his trucks and cost his company money in repairs.

“It just prematurely wears out the parts, your shocks, your tires, your tire alignments, your tie rod ends,” Miskimon said. “It’s not just the big trucks, either. I mean, it’s regular cars, too.”

Peter Serun, a truck driver for Gefran Cargo in Grand Prairie, Texas, said truck breakdowns from the bad roads cost both money and time. He said that when a truck goes to a shop for repairs, you will find other damaged trucks ahead of you. Then, some parts are on backorder, making it difficult to get back on the road.

“And then you spend weeks, so yeah, it affects us,” Serun said.

Pothole repairs increased by 25 percent in the Dundalk and Sparrows Point areas in 2024 from the previous year. Some 3,359 potholes were filled in these areas in 2024 versus 2,695 potholes in 2023, according to public works spokesman Ron Snyder.

Yasmin Peral, a Baltimore County Department of Public Works and Transportation shop clerk, said potholes “definitely got worse” due to increased truck traffic after the bridge collapse.

Peral said that typically, when the county patches a pothole, the filling lasts for years. She said that with the uptick in trucks, that’s no longer the case.

“Now they’re lasting months, if that,” Peral said. “Try to be patient with us. We’re trying to get out there to fix things.”

Cpl. Rachel Cassady of the Baltimore County Sheriff’s Dundalk precinct said smaller roads, particularly in residential areas, can’t handle larger trucks. Cassady said that when truckers travel these roads, it causes destruction of property and collisions with parked cars, and can result in trucks getting stuck, which requires police assistance.

“We understand the trucks are trying to get to their destination via the quickest route, but that is not always the lawful route,” Cassady said in an email, adding that most of these commercial truckers are from outside the region.

As a result, Cassady said, truckers use GPS navigation, which directs them to smaller thoroughfares not meant for their vehicles.

Cassady said truckers going to and from Tradepoint Atlantic at the Port of Baltimore often wind up on the wrong roads. But she added that the company has been “very helpful” in educating its drivers in the area. Tradepoint Atlantic did not respond to a request for comment.

Doug Anderson, senior council assistant for Baltimore County Councilman Todd Crandell in Dundalk, said the growth of the Tradepoint Atlantic terminal and dock at the Port of Baltimore has brought thousands of jobs – and more truck traffic.

“It brings truck traffic that gets diverted through neighborhoods through faulty GPS,” Anderson said.

Truck drivers are frustrated by the narrow roads, too.

“I see this area is very small for trucks. It’s too small for trucks,” Amar Mbareck, an Amazon driver, said.

Salifou Sabadou, 48, a driver for Good Luck Transport LLC, said that traffic is terrible, especially at peak hours, since the bridge’s collapse.

“After 2:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m., it is really, really impossible to work because of the bridge,” Sabadou said.

Cassady warns these problems will persist for some time.

“My message to truckers, motorists and residents would be patience,” Cassady said. “This is not going to fix itself overnight and will continue to be an issue until the Key Bridge rebuild is completed.”