The Biden administration remains committed to the federal government paying 100% of the cost to replace the Francis Scott Key Bridge, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said to Marylandmatters.org this week.
“President Biden was very clear, and the Maryland delegation is leading a process in Congress to make sure that it is 100% eligible,” said Buttigieg to Maryland Matters. “In the past, there has sometimes been a 90% threshold. But 100% is both the delegation and the administration’s view.”
The Secretary’s comments come as state and federal officials are celebrating Monday’s full reopening of the Fort McHenry Federal Channel.
The reopening came 11 weeks after the container ship Dali struck the bridge and caused it to crumble into the Patapsco River. The March 26 collision killed six construction workers who were on the bridge at the time and severed a major East Coast highway as well as access to the port.
Initial estimates for replacing the bridge are set at $1.7 billion, which is causing officials to project a much more involved process than reopening the shipping channel.
In the days after the collision, Biden said “his intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing the bridge” and that U.S. Congress would support his effort.
Buttigieg said Tuesday that the federal commitment to fully cover the bridge replacement did not mean that taxpayers would necessarily foot the entire bill.
“Again, that does not rule out recoveries for the taxpayer from any private party that is held liable or accountable, insurance, litigation, any of that,” Buttigieg said.
The U.S. Department of Transportation already released $60 million to the state in emergency relief funding “as down payment on the work ahead,” Buttigieg said. He said additional funds would be sent to the state through a reimbursement system.
“Emergency relief funding is structured on a reimbursement basis, and we have quick-release ability to get those first dollars flowing. That’s what the $60 million was about,” Buttigieg said. “But we know that those additional bills will come in.”
Buttigieg said that the port reopening showed “extraordinary coordination and convening of partners” in federal, state and local agencies.
“We recognize that there’s a long road ahead, when it comes to the bridge reconstruction, but this is a key milestone and an extraordinary moment,” Buttigieg said.
Buttigieg is expected to join Gov. Wes Moore and other state and federal officials at a news conference this week to celebrate the reopening of the channel.
Source: Marylandmatters.org, Baltimore Sun
