Rep. Andy Harris urges for cutting through bureaucratic red tape to facilitate the reconstruction of the Baltimore bridge

Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) said on Wednesday that the state of Maryland and the federal government need to reduce the “environmental and regulatory burdens” to help expedite the reconstruction of Baltimore‘s Francis Scott Key Bridge.

“As we first concentrate on recovering the victims, it is important that both the State and Federal governments work together to immediately reduce the environmental and regulatory burdens that would hinder the rapid reconstruction of the Key Bridge,” Harris said.

While some experts suggest the bridge could be rebuilt in over a year, the environmental and regulatory issues could backtrack time frames in accomplishing such building construction. The current debris has yet to be cleared and the project of reconstruction will cost at least hundreds of millions of dollars.

Republican Maryland State Dels. Kathy Szeliga and Ryan Nawrocki, both representing Baltimore County, called on government authorities on Tuesday to replicate the recovery response of the Interstate 35 Mississippi River bridge collapse, saying that that bridge was built in less than 13 months.

“Within two days of that bridge collapse, Congress bipartisanly passed a unanimous resolution to spend $250 million to rebuild that bridge. All efforts were streamlined as multiple agencies worked unilaterally to rebuild the bridge safely in record time,” the delegates said in a statement.

The state lawmakers continued, “The time period of rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge can decrease from several years to months if we replicate the rebuilding efforts of the Minneapolis Bridge project and not allow government red tape to hold back the recovery efforts.”

President Joe Biden vowed on Tuesday that the federal government would “pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge.”

“I expect the Congress to support my effort,” Biden said.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that he wants the rebuild to happen “as quickly as possible.”

The transportation secretary warned that the bridge collapse will have a significant economic impact on the supply chains in the Port of Baltimore and globally.

“The whole country counts on the shipping that goes through that port. And that 695 bridge connection is important to the entire region, as well,” Buttigieg said.

“The Francis Scott Key Bridge is one of the heaviest-trafficked bridges in Baltimore, and its tragic collapse will halt the flow of ships in and out of the Port of Baltimore and hurt the local economy,” Congressman Harris said Wednesday.

The Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest ports in the United States, provides hundreds of thousands of jobs and handled over $80.8 billion in foreign cargo last year. The port is also a major hub for Norwegian, Carnival, and Royal Caribbean cruises.

“The original bridge took about five years to build, but we want to do everything possible to make sure this takes place as quickly as possible,” Buttigieg said Wednesday. “There is no exact precedent for this. There was the Minnesota bridge collapse. That was not because it was struck by anything. It collapsed because of design issues in 2007. That one took about 14 months to reconstruct.”

He added, “But again, it’s too soon to know how similar or how different the engineering challenges are going to be.”

Buttigieg pledged to commit the federal resources needed to help but cautioned the challenges are still ongoing.

“In the Baltimore case, we still don’t fully know the condition of the portions of the bridge that are still standing or of infrastructure that is below the surface of the water. So rebuilding will not be quick or cheap,” he said during the White House press briefing on Wednesday.

The Dali, the Singapore-flagged cargo vessel that lost power early Tuesday before colliding into and collapsing the Baltimore bridge, is still undergoing recovery efforts. Divers are assessing the debris and working on a plan to help remove the ship from under the collapsed bridge.

Coast Guard Deputy Commandant Vice Adm. Peter Gautier said during the White House press briefing that the Coast Guard is on board the vessel and taking steps to refloat the ship and remove it from the area.

Gautier noted that while the vessel is stable, there still remains on board over 1.5 million gallons of fuel, oil, lube, and 4700 cargo containers, along with 56 containers with hazardous materials that could be a potential pollution threat to the harbor.

“The real critical thing here is that a portion of the bridge remains on the bow of that ship. And we will be coordinating very closely with the Army Corps of Engineers and their contractors to first affect the removal of that debris before the vessel can then be removed,” Gautier stated.

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“The vessel bow is sitting on the bottom because of the weight of the bridge debris,” he added.

The Coast Guard official said there were underwater surveys in motion to study the vessel but as of now, there is no indication of flooding or damage underneath the water line of the ship. Port of Virginia in Norfolk Harbor is anticipating some of the shipping traffic of Baltimore to be diverted to its port.