The Maryland Transportation Authority is applying for permits to blow up what is left of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Residents in earshot are concerned about ongoing damage to their community’s infrastructure and homes.

State agencies hosted a public meeting about the demolition in Dundalk on Thursday night.

“We need to know. We need to know the day and time you are going to be setting off bombs in our backyard,” said Tiffany Cheek, who spoke at the meeting on behalf of Mount Olive Baptist Church in Turner Station.

Cheek added that residents are worried about construction vehicles exacerbating traffic already impacted by the loss of the bridge. MDTA and the Maryland Department of the Environment, which is reviewing the permit applications for demolition, hosted the meeting at the North Point Branch of the Baltimore County Public Library.

Officials explained that the state plans to use explosives on the remaining 11 piers to remove them as far down as 2 feet below the mud line at the bottom of the Patapsco River.

“We are working with the agencies to permit this through explosive demolition. That will allow the material to drop down to the river bottom, at which point we will remove the material using clamshell-type buckets,” MDTA Director of Project Development Brian Wolfe said at the meeting. “MDTA is committed to rebuilding the Key Bridge as quickly as possible while minimizing impacts to aquatic resources.”

The environment department approved phase one of the project, which involves mechanical, but not explosive, removal of parts of the bridge, in July, while the second phase is still under review. The agency is taking public comment on the project through Aug. 15. The MDTA said in its Water Quality Certification Request to the environment department that it hopes to begin the demolition project in late summer or fall of this year and that it will take approximately 10 months to complete.

State Del. Ric Metzgar, a Baltimore County Republican, said he thinks the project is moving too fast.

“When that ship hit, those properties shook, and not one person has come to check on those properties, and what is going to happen a couple years down the road when all of a sudden we start seeing leaks?” Metzgar said. “I know everybody is in a hurry to get it built, but we need to take a little bit of time to make sure that what we’ve got here is safe and feasible. After tonight, I sense a real rush. This was good for me to hear because the rush is on.”

Two species of fish federally protected by the Endangered Species Act, the Atlantic sturgeon and the shortnose sturgeon, can be present in the over 8 acres of river that could be impacted by the demolition, according to the MDTA’s request.

Linwood Jackson, a retired Bethlehem Steel worker and a Turner Station resident, said he felt his house shake when the bridge collapsed and during demolition this spring, when crews used explosives to dismantle the bridge parts. He added that cranes in the river and workers at Tradepoint Atlantic cutting up bridge spans have all been audible from Turner Station.

“When that bridge fell, it shook the community. Homes shook. We’re worried about our gas pipes and water. My concern is you blasting this, who is checking the infrastructure to see if you’re doing any more additional damage,” Jackson said. “What I’m worried about, since nobody came to test our structures, what happens a year from now, something goes wrong in my house, and the insurance company says we didn’t know nothing about this?”

A similar hearing for the construction of the new bridge will be held Sept. 17 at the Community College of Baltimore County from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.