Posted on 03/30/2024 2:31:48 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore came as quite a shock. After a massive container ship struck one of the bridge’s pillars, the entire span quickly fell apart, costing several lives.
It’s hard to overstate the bridge’s importance, particularly for the automobile industry. In addition to handling 11 million vehicles per year, it provided a vital way for trucks to access the Port of Baltimore while avoiding the dense city core. The impact on the region will be felt for months, if not years.
The question is, what now?
President Joe Biden has said that the federal government would foot the entire bill for rebuilding the bridge and demanded that Congress make it happen.
While the collapse came as a surprise, nobody should be surprised that Biden’s immediate response was to call for more federal spending.
Since taking office, Biden has signed trillions of dollars of spending increases into law and imposed more than $700 billion of additional costs through administrative decisions.
This reckless approach to budgeting has whipped up inflation and driven the gross national debt to $34.6 trillion—about $265,000 for every household in the country.
Fortunately, it’s possible for Washington to help Maryland rebuild the bridge without driving the nation deeper into debt.
First, all officials must be clear that the cost of rebuilding should mostly or entirely fall on the owners and operators of the ship, even if the incident was purely accidental. While litigation on such an important matter could take time to resolve, taxpayers shouldn’t be responsible for the cost of a privately caused disaster.
Second, there’s no need for Congress to authorize new funding to begin the process of clearing the channel and rebuilding the bridge . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at dailysignal.com ...
Don’t forget about the huge impact to rail traffic
“ AOC, who has actually been on a boat with one, has recommended replacing it with a flying bridge. Powered by solar energy of course!”
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Her thinking has since evolved. She now wants to have the new bridge held aloft by mammoth hydrogen balloons to eliminate the possibility of future ship collisions,,
Poor old Biden offering to pay the whole cost of the bridge without taking into account litigation. What a schmuck.
Make it a toll bridge and up the fees to cross! A toll road turnpike can be in in 4 years while a free road may take 20 years for the same distance.
Toll roads built 70 years ago were supposed to be free by now but are still toll roads as the states cannot give up that cash cow!
The “free trade” thing does not work(**) without dirt cheap high seas transportation(##) that, by international agreement, has “practically” the lowest “environmental emissions standards” on the planet.
** The low cost of production of goods from “over there.”
## Huge ships built to barely survive stable seas, with one main engine, and a “direct shaft assembly” with no gearbox between engine and prop - super glorified but helpless barges.
My former employer was building a business park for high tech and with a planned community. When it was about 80% done (having met all the permits), the State of Washington threw a stop work curve-ball saying the traffic this development would generate requires a much larger on/off ramp than what was there. The State said only THEY could build these due to the strict specifications. It would take 2 or 3 years with my employer paying the bloated costs blah blah blah..
My employer sued and won with the judgment that the company would build the ramp to state specs.
5 months later, the interchange was open, way under the State's estimated cost and on time. The embarrassment caused the State to not allow that again (20 years ago)
Is that legally binding, or just FJB shooting off his senile face again? The ship's insurer should pay for the replacement bridge, not U.S. taxpayers.
Do you suppose that they will be smart enough to use the original plans/specs and rebuild it just as it was before last Tuesday?
You just KNOW that all manner of insincere, attention seeking politicians (of all stripes and jurisdictions) will try to get involved and muck the whole thing up, unless told and forced to stay out of it!
And, we can certainly count on multiple intra/inter-government squabbles effing up the bridge rebuild!
That is ALL we can count on!
> Is that legally binding… <
I don’t see how it can be. The Constitution says all spending must originate in the House of Representatives, not in the White House.
So Biden is promising something he has no right to promise in the first place. It would be like me promising Ukraine 100 more tanks. I’m just some guy. I have no authority to make such a promise. None at all.
(The catch of course is that Biden can ignore the Constitution if the GOP elite don’t object.)
It should and under Trump it will. However, salvage and construction must begin immediately. The lawsuits over the crash will take years.
The rink was another job he did that impressed the masses. Back in the 80s DT was the toast of the town
Gonna have to start looking for an endangered Snail Darter or somesuch critter.
Use cheap Mexican labor and Chinese steel.
MY solution.
The Maryland Transportation Authority owns what remains of that bridge. They run all the toll facilities in the state. Assuming they haven’t reached their bonding limit, they could bond against future toll revenue to rebuild the bridge more quickly, then bill the shipping company and its insurers so that tolls won’t have to be raised as high.
Nice analysis.
They are not going just build the same bridge. The bridge while four lane, was just adequate and had no shoulders. Maryland will probably replace it with four lane cable stayed bridge. The space between the towers will be wider, and the bridge can be higher to allow more clearance for shipping.
Toll roads built 70 years ago were supposed to be free by now but are still toll roads as the states cannot give up that cash cow!
The bridge was already a toll bridge. It's owned by the Maryland Transportation Authority, which owns and runs all the tolled facilities in the state, such as the Intercounty Connector (MD 200), the Kennedy Highway (I-95 northeast of Baltimore) and the Nice Bridge that takes US 301 into Virginia.
no rail on the bridge just joes imagination
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