Buttigieg Warns Rebuilding Bridge Will Be a Challenging and Costly Process

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg stated on Wednesday that the reconstruction of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge “will not be quick or easy or cheap, but we will get it done.”

The bridge partially collapsed on Tuesday after a container ship collided with a support beam early in the morning. Officials have confirmed that the crash seems to be accidental with no signs of foul play or intention.

“It is difficult to overstate the level of physical force that hit this bridge all at once,” Buttigieg told ABC News in an interview on Wednesday, adding, “This is a vessel that was about 100,000 tons carrying its load, so 200 million pounds went into this bridge all at once, which is why you had that almost instant catastrophic result.”

He went on to say, “What we witnessed yesterday was just unimaginable in terms of the proportion of that ship, the size of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, going directly into the key support beam of that bridge.”

Buttigieg also mentioned that President Joe Biden has committed to having the federal government cover the costs of rebuilding the bridge.

“The president made it very clear that every tool of the federal government needs to be available to Governor Wes Moore as the state of Maryland takes charge of the bridge and port repair,” Buttigieg stated in a subsequent interview. “We must ensure that funding is not an issue and eliminate any bureaucratic hurdles as well.”