Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told “America’s Newsroom” on Wednesday that “we have to make sure that funding is not an obstacle” to rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore as soon as possible. “We will remove administrative barriers.”
Buttigieg said divers are now searching the frigid waters of the Patapsco River for the bodies of six construction workers presumed dead after Tuesday’s collapse when a cargo ship struck a bridge pillar. I posted this comment while I was at it.
“We’ve got to make sure that funding isn’t an obstacle, we’ve got to make sure that we’ve got administrative barriers down, and that’s going to take a lot of effort,” Buttigieg said. “We will do everything we can as a department that does not require a parliamentary vote, but we will likely need parliamentary cooperation to secure some of the funding, so I also intend to be involved.”
“That bridge took five years to build. We have not yet estimated how long it will take to rebuild,” he added. “So the president said that all the tools are [in] With Maryland leading the charge on both the bridge and the port, the federal government will need help from Gov. Wes Moore. ”
Live Updates: Baltimore Bridge Collapse and Recovery Mission
A cargo ship is stuck under the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Wednesday following a collapse in Baltimore yesterday. (AP/Steve Helber)
Buttigieg described the Port of Baltimore, near where the bridge collapsed, as “the largest vehicle-handling port in the United States,” which also handles a lot of farm equipment.
“We must also prepare for the impact of this on the supply chain. The bridge itself carried around 30,000 vehicles per day,” he said. “There are alternative tunnels, but there will be some impact on traffic.”
Details of 6 people believed to have died in Baltimore bridge collapse revealed, harrowing audio released
Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, May 7, 2017. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the bridge, which opened in 1977, took five years to build. (Rick Brady)
Buttigieg said the impact on shipping operations at the port was a “major concern.”
“One of the important things to understand is that the way the flow of cargo ships is handled means that, for example, if a runway is cut off or there is a problem at the airport and planes have to change course, “It’s very different from something like traffic control, where there’s a single authority that tells those planes what to do and where to go,” he told America’s Newsroom. .
“That doesn’t happen in ocean shipping. You have different shippers, different ports, different terminals, different shippers. They don’t have to talk to each other. But we’ve been leveraging that relationship. We’ve definitely made sure the coordination We’re leveraging some of the tools that the Department of Transportation has to make sure that happens,” Buttigieg added.
Part of the Francis Scott Key Bridge is seen over the Patapsco River on Wednesday, March 27. (AP/Matt Rourke)
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“If the investigation finds that private entities are responsible, there is no question that they will be held accountable. However, we cannot just wait for that to happen,” the transportation secretary said. . “Today, we must now work to ensure that this bridge is put back together and this port is reopened.”
