President Joe Biden‘s pending request for nearly $100 billion in emergency disaster aid includes money to rebuild Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which, in March, collapsed under the impact of a massive container ship that lost power and veered off course.
Within hours of the disaster, Biden said the federal government will pay for the “entire cost of reconstructing that bridge, and I expect the Congress to support my effort.” He visited Baltimore in the weeks that followed and reiterated his pledge of support.
Since then, members of Maryland’s congressional delegation have been working to secure 100% federal funding to cover the nearly $2 billion in estimated reconstruction costs. The federal government would otherwise cover 90%.
In a letter Monday to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Biden said Congress must bolster funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other programs in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
The request comes as lawmakers meet during a lame-duck session to finish key priorities before making way for a new Congress and the incoming Trump administration. It includes some $8 billion that would help rebuild and repair highways and bridges in more than 40 states and territories, including Maryland.
Maryland Democratic Senator Ben Cardin said the request also includes passing legislation that would provide 100% federal funding for the bridge reconstruction. He said legislators had been looking for a “vehicle” to get that approved and were hopeful it would pass.
“The Maryland delegation has always supported other states in their hours of need, whether it was hurricanes, forest fires,” Senator Chris Van Hollen, also a Democrat, told reporters Monday evening. “And we expect and hope the rest of the country to support us now when it comes to replacing the Key Bridge.”
Maryland transportation leaders approved a contract for the reconstruction project in August that set a 2028 completion date and a $1.7 billion price tag.
The collapse killed six members of a road work crew who were filling potholes on the bridge when it came crashing down into the water below. The cargo ship Dali had experienced a series of electrical issues while it remained docked in Baltimore.
Litigation will determine assignments of liability for what could become one of the most expensive maritime disasters in history, recouping money that could eventually help reimburse the cost of rebuilding.
Constructed in the 1970s, the bridge was named after Francis Scott Key, who wrote the national anthem after witnessing American troops successfully defend south Baltimore’s Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. The 1.6-mile (2.6-kilometer) steel span connected industrial communities on either side of Baltimore’s harbor and allowed drivers to easily bypass downtown. It was often used by truckers traveling up and down the East Coast.
Since the collapse, drive times and accidents have increased on the main alternate routes.
U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, whose district includes communities at the northeast end of the bridge, said getting it rebuilt will mean a lot to Baltimore’s dockworkers, small businesses, and “everyone in our state who’s come to see that bridge as a cathedral there in the water.”
—Lea Skene, Associated Press