Maryland senator: Federal government to cover 90 percent of bridge rebuild costs

The Hill ^ | 03/28/2024 | AL WEAVER

[ChicagoConservative27]

Maryland lawmakers are expecting the federal government to cover the lion’s share of the cost of the collapse and subsequent rebuilding of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge — with Congress potentially on the hook for only a fraction of the total as talk about an emergency supplemental bill increases.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told reporters that roughly 90 percent of the bridge’s reconstruction will be paid for via the Federal Highway Administration’s emergency fund, which has about $950 million and is replenished yearly with $100 million. The state sent a letter to the federal government Wednesday saying it will look to use money from that fund to pay for that process.

What work Congress will need to do on this subject remains unclear because Van Hollen and other Maryland members are awaiting a full recovery cost assessment before they make any asks of colleagues.

“They’re doing that assessment right now,” Van Hollen told reporters on Capitol Hill. “I don’t know exactly when, but I assume it will be in the coming days. It will be a rough estimate.”

[blackdog]

Wrong. Taxpayers have to pay for the Black Swan crisis, which must not go to waste.

[Carl Vehse]

"insurance companies should be paying not US taxpayers!"

Campaign contributions to Demonicrat politicians are a lot cheaper for insurance companies than paying for the bridge rebuild costs.

[Falcon4.0]

Yea. A Great Big Slush Fund.

[Thunder90]

They should be able to take a loan from it then pay it back using the bridge tolls.

[P8riot]

Are they going to "build back better"?

......sorry

[AZJeep]

God analysis!
I would add t6hat there will be huge damages from the shipping closure of the Baltimore port.
There are thousands of jobs on hold.
There are about twenty boats stranded inside the port, unable to leave. The cost of even a day of delay in shipping industry is huge.
There are many more boats, stranded outside the port, waiting to get in. These could be re-routed, but again, the cost of delay and re-rout is pretty high.
There are cost of lost business from customers, not getting their cargo delivered on time.
That is what come to my mind, there are likely a lot more costs!

[JohnBovenmyer]

Actually, IIRC it technically was part of the MD State highway system, NOT part of the official Federal system even though it was labeled like the Fed system. Give them funding for hazmat/oversize load river crossing ferries and local road upgrades enough to connect the two sides of the river landings to the functioning ends of the old "intrastate" from the "emergency" fund. That solves the national part of the emergency in which that nationally important kind of traffic "couldn't get there from here" and does so much sooner than building new bridge could. The result would be inconvenient and slower, but no longer an emergency. But such traffic almost never is time dependent and and upgrading that result could easily wait for non-emergent, routine, funding.

The rest of the problem is that local, intra-Maryland, commuter traffic either has to go out its way some distance or takes longer because of increased traffic congestion. Lots of places pleading for federal upgrades of such nuisances. Took about 30 years for the Feds to get around to upgrading my community's biggest such from when I saw the need. And it both crossed state lines and had higher traffic volume than had the Key bridge. Let MD go through routine competition vs. other griping states for Federal funding. If they want faster results, spend their own, or insurance money.

[ABStrauss]

Luckily a train wasn’t crossing that bridge at the time of the collision.

Of course, the bridge will be p0aid for by those who never use it. It’s Bidenomics, y’all.

[Major Matt Mason]

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told reporters that roughly 90 percent of the bridge’s reconstruction will be paid for via the Federal Highway Administration’s emergency fund by U.S. taxpayers.

Fixed.

[Swanks]

The don’t want the shipping company paying even one dime BECAUSE, congress criminals are salivating - over the graft corruption and kickbacks coming, from taxpayer funds.

[Glad2bnuts]

Taxpayers will pay to rebuild, then the govt will go after the ships insurance, and collect billions with which to line their pockets. If you lose money via your CA house being melted or burned to the ground, they will use taxpayer funds to partially help you, while raking every ill gotten gain the power company had into THEIR hands.

We live in a klepto/Communist system

[Colt1851Navy]

Maybe FJB will get all the insurance money. Not a single Lame Stream Media outlet would say a word about it.

[fella]

I still think it was a deliberate “Accident”.

[Carriage Hill]

There were no train tracks on that bridge.

[Pennsyltucky Boy]

Yup! 10% for the Big Guy!

[Colt1851Navy]

Rename the river under the bridge after Joe Biden. How about Crooked Creek?

[Elsie]

Federal government to cover 90 percent of bridge rebuild costs

TAXPAYERS!!!

[ZinGirl]

https://youtu.be/alpaDfnT-Bk?si=0QjvP-0d5ybTwgJH

Found this guy on an FR thread the other day. He put this up today. “Who is in charge?”

[ZinGirl]

But..but..but..Biden said he had traversed across that bridge “by vehicle or train” many times! Didn’t his son Beau help build the bridge? And the train that went across it? 🙄

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

Federal government to cover 90 percent of bridge rebuild costs

Do I hear 80%? Going, going...