On the other hand, I kind of wish they could have come up with a bridge alternative that would have avoided Ft. McHenry, but still gave the city some benefits beyond transportation. Bridges are such an iconic piece of culture and architecture for a city and we honestly miss out on that A LOT. Look at examples like Pittsburgh and the Brooklyn Bridge in NYC and Chicago and San Fran and how their bridges really define their cities and how people associate the image of the city with the bridge and vice versa.

Apparently, there was another bridge crossing planned for I-895 which would have been very similar to the Francis Scott Key Bridge: https://www.dcroads.net/crossings/harbor-tunnel/img18.gif