Md. officials secure $60M in federal emergency relief for Key Bridge collapse response

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The Biden administration on Thursday approved Maryland officials’ request for $60 million in federal emergency relief, putting an initial price tag on the response to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.

While a dollar amount was unclear until Thursday, the White House and Maryland’s congressional delegation were expecting the emergency request. Gov. Wes Moore declared a state of emergency shortly after the bridge fell early Tuesday, and state officials on Wednesday had sent a precursory letter outlining the need for federal assistance.

The state is “deeply grateful” for the federal funds and support, Moore said at a Thursday evening news conference.

The cost of responding to the sudden and catastrophic collapse of the bridge after a cargo ship struck one of its pillars, and clearing the waterway to reopen marine shipping to the Port of Baltimore, will certainly grow.

President Joe Biden has already pledged for the federal government to foot the bill for restarting the port and rebuilding the Key Bridge, and Maryland’s congressional delegation is planning to push for Congress to approve more funding for the bridge. It remains to be seen whether some costs will fall to the state, which is already facing shortfalls to pay for its long-term transportation plans.

The state’s emergency relief request is separate from any work to rebuild the bridge.

In a letter to the Federal Highway Administration, state Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld wrote that it’s not yet possible to provide exact cost estimates as responders continue to assess the scene/ The $60 million figure is the state’s current estimate to pay for debris removal, demolition, traffic operations and other costs incurred in responding to the disaster.

“The State of Maryland’s budget for emergencies is limited and unable to fund an emergency of this magnitude,” Wiedefeld wrote to the Federal Highway Administration.

The Federal Highway Administration’s emergency relief program — meant for repairs or reconstruction of roads and highways seriously damaged by a natural disaster or catastrophic failure from an external cause — gets $100 million each year, and Congress periodically provides more funding through supplemental appropriations.

The federal share for interstate highways, like Md. 695, which comprised the Key Bridge, is generally 90%. Maryland’s congressional delegation is expected to push for the federal government to cover the full cost.

The transportation secretary wrote that the state will request more emergency funding as damage survey teams continue their assessments, and state officials on Thursday were developing an early scope and engineering estimate for future costs.

The state is also expected to request funding from other federal agencies to support the emergency operation.

Moore, a Democrat leading the state’s response to its most daunting challenge since he took office a little more a year ago, said in a statement that the initial emergency relief funding is “needed for our immediate response efforts, and to lay the foundation for a rapid recovery.”

At a Thursday press conference with the new owners of the Baltimore Orioles to mark the start of the Major League Baseball season, the governor spoke of the rebuilding and recovery challenges ahead, saying “we have a very long road ahead of us.” But he also repeated a pledge to rebuild the Key Bridge.

“You can bet on that,” he said.

Fans and officials honored three Maryland Transportation Authority Police officers during the middle of the game’s third inning.

Sgt. Paul Pastorek, Cpl. Jeremy Herbert and officer Garry Kirts likely saved people’s lives by stopping traffic on either side of the bridge in the minutes before it collapsed.

“You train for years to respond to tragedy as an officer, but no amount of training could have prepared anyone for the events that took place on the Francis Scott Key Bridge,” the officers said in a joint statement. “We were proud to carry out our duties as officers of this state to save the lives that we could.”

Officials representing several state and federal agencies on Thursday were planning a salvage operation to begin clearing remnants of the Key Bridge and loads of other debris from the river.

Massive barges carrying cranes that will be used to remove collapsed parts of the bridge were headed to Baltimore.

Removal of bridge pieces, construction vehicles, ship cargo and other debris in the river currently impeding ship travel will fall to the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Once enough debris is cleared, divers are expected to resume their search for the four missing workers who are presumed dead and believed to be in the river beneath the collapsed bridge.

Two of the eight workers on the bridge were rescued shortly after the bridge went down, but responders on Wednesday recovered the remains of two others, who had been trapped in a pickup truck that plunged into the water when the bridge collapsed.

The state identified the victims as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Baltimore, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Dundalk.

When cargo ship traffic in and out of the Port of Baltimore can resume will depend on how quickly federal agencies can clear the river, and top state and federal officials haven’t given a timeline for when the first of multiple shipping lanes along the waterway will reopen.

The collapsed bridge has cut off all but one water entry to the port. Cargo ships are expected to be diverted to other ports in the region or to the Tradepoint Atlantic global logistics hub at Sparrows Point, formerly home to a Bethlehem Steel mill.

Tradepoint Atlantic has already accepted a regular shipment of Volkswagen vehicles, marking the first cargo to arrive at the port since the collapse of the Key Bridge.

Scott Cowan, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 333, said the union is scrambling to help its roughly 2,400 members whose jobs are at risk of drying up until shipping can resume in the Port of Baltimore.

“If there’s no ships, there’s no work,” he said. “We’re doing everything we can.”

The huge vessel was carrying nearly 4,700 metal shipping containers, 56 of them with hazardous materials inside. Thirteen of those were destroyed, officials said. However, industrial hygienists who evaluated the contents identified them as perfumes and soaps, according to the Key Bridge Joint Information Center.

“There was no immediate threat to the environment,” the center said.

Booms have been placed in the area to control the spread of any oil that seeped into the water, and state environmental officials were also sampling the water Thursday.

The sudden loss of a highway that carries 30,000 vehicles a day and the port disruption will affect not only thousands of dockworkers and commuters but also U.S. consumers, who are likely to feel the impact of shipping delays.

The governors of New York and New Jersey have offered to take on cargo shipments that have been disrupted. Their respective governors, Kathy Hochul and Phil Murphy, said in a statement Thursday that ports in their states can handle additional shipments in an attempt to minimize supply chain disruptions.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.