Evening Report — Officials plotting path forward after catastrophic bridge collapse

Officials are investigating the cause of the crash that led to the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday. But they aren’t ready to say how long it will take to get the cargo ship out of one of the nation’s busiest ports or replace the bridge.

 

“Rebuilding will not be quick or easy or cheap,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters during a White House press briefing Wednesday. “But we will get it done.”

 

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is conducting an independent investigation into the Dali’s crash, which sent eight people into the water. Two people escaped with injuries, and the remaining six are presumed dead.

“Part of what’s being debated is whether any design feature now known would have made a difference in this case,” Buttigieg said. “A bridge like this one, completed in the 1970s, was simply not made to withstand a direct impact on a critical support pier from a vessel that weighs about 200 million pounds.”

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D) called the Key Bridge’s collapse “devastating” and vowed support for the families of the victims, who were paving parts of the bridge when the collapse happened.

“This is an unthinkable tragedy,” Scott said. “And when you think about those families, when you think about those workers who were simply trying to improve transit for the rest of us, losing your life in this way is nothing short of a tragedy.”

 

The collapse occurred following a power outage on the ship, according to authorities.

 

The U.S. Coast Guard called off search-and-rescue efforts late Tuesday and have focused their efforts on finding the bodies of the six men presumed dead.

 

President Biden has vowed that the bridge will be rebuilt, saying “It’s my intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge, and I expect the Congress to support my effort.”