Key Bridge collapse: Wes Moore meets with Joe Biden on federal channel opening and other issues

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore left a meeting with White House officials Tuesday saying plans were intact to restore the federal channel by June 10 following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and that he expected the first large container ships to return around the same time.

“The first week of June is when we’re anticipating our first major container ships that will be able to enter back into the channel,” the governor said after two closed meetings, including one that included President Joe Biden, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.

“Our transportation department has been in consistent communication with our federal partners,” Moore told The Baltimore Sun. “I just continue to be so impressed by not just the speed, but the intentionality of this work. I think this has been a very powerful case study that government can get things done when government works together.”

The end of May had been the goal of state and federal officials to restore the federal channel of debris, but last Friday that estimate was pushed back to June 8-10, a timetable that Moore said they were on track to meet.

A news release Friday said the Army Corps of Engineers continued to clear wreckage from the riverbed to restore the federal channel to its original 700-foot width and 50-foot depth.

The governor has been meeting periodically with White House officials about the bridge.

Biden has promised that federal funds will cover the full cost of replacing the bridge, with his administration approving an initial $60 million request from the state and access to an emergency relief fund.

The project to replace the span of Interstate 695 by fall of 2028 is estimated to cost between $1.7 and $1.9 billion.

Between insurance and liability claims, Moore said: “We are more than confident that the American people are going to be made whole on this. We also know lawsuits take a very long time,” he said, which is why the federal government has needed to act in the interim to speed the project along.

The bridge collapsed March 26 after being struck by a container ship, killing six construction workers.

Since then, “we know that there have now been over 10,000 tons of steel that has been removed from the water,” Moore said. “Even after we reopen the federal channel, in mid-June, the operation to remove all of the steel from the water will continue.”

©2024 Baltimore Sun. Visit baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.