Washington Construction News staff writer
It will probably take years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Patapsco River.
“We still don’t fully know the condition of the portions of the bridge that are still standing or of infrastructure that is below the surface of the water,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said at the White House on March 27 “So rebuilding will not be quick or easy or cheap, but we will get it done.”
Buttigieg declined to provide a timeline for rebuilding the bridge. He also noted that there is a difference of opinion on whether a bridge can be built to take a blow from a 100-million-ton freighter like the one that felled the Key Bridge.
Shortly after the bridge’s destruction on Feb. 26, when it was hit by out-of-control cargo container ship, President Biden pledged that the federal government would foot the bill to reopen the port and rebuild the bridge, which state officials said carried more than 30,000 vehicles a day.
The next day, Rep. David Trone (D-Md.), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said lawmakers were exploring the use of “quick release” emergency relief funds to aid in the effort, The Washington Post reported.
Six construction workers on an overnight pothole filling shift died when the bridge collapsed.
