[5][6] Around the time of the construction of the bridge, trucks had begun to overtake steamboats as the preferred means of transferring goods.

This made the waterway accumulate silt, causing it to be less viable for shipping, and erasing the previous recreational area around the river.

A bill to rename the bridge passed the council, being signed into law by Mayor of Baltimore Kurt Schmoke.

Schmoke and president of the City Council Mary Pat Clarke spoke at the ceremony, in which memorial plaques funded by local veteran groups were placed on the bridge.

[9] After the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse on March 26, 2024, the Hanover Street Bridge became a secondary alternate route for drivers, and a primary alternate route for trucks containing hazardous loads, which are not permitted to use the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel or the Fort McHenry Tunnel.