Aerial view of the cable-stayed Sunshine Skyway in Tampa, Florida. Bridge engineers say a similar design would make sense for a replacement for the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.

“Cable-stayed” bridges, as they’re known, are the kind most commonly used today in places where car and truck traffic must pass across wide, heavily navigated waterways — like the 1.6-mile ...

A good analog to Baltimore's situation is the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, a cable-stayed structure over the Cooper River in Charleston, S.C., that was completed 18 years ago.