Biden to visit Baltimore as crews prepare to clear fallen bridge
Published in Political News
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said he will head to Baltimore next week as the U.S seeks to accelerate emergency work to clear and reconstruct the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Biden will travel with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, the president told reporters Friday as he returned from a fundraising trip to New York. He didn’t elaborate on the timing of the visit. The U.S. Department of Transportation is providing $60 million in immediate funding, the first portion of billions of dollars in expected costs to rebuild the bridge and reopen the port of Baltimore. Secretary Pete Buttigieg pledged further resources as the project continues.
Biden’s record funding major infrastructure is a central theme of his reelection bid. Federal officials told Maryland lawmakers that replacing the 1.6-mile (2.6-kilometer) bridge would cost at least $2 billion including cleanup.
The Singapore-flagged Dali cargo ship slammed into the bridge on Tuesday after experiencing a loss of propulsion. On Friday, massive cranes began to arrive at the site as crews prepared to clear the wreckage.
(Brendan Case and Nacha Cattan contributed to this report.)
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