The projected $1.7 billion replacement cost of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge has become a negotiation between state and federal officials.
A Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) program calls for states to share the cost of repairing unexpected road and bridge destruction, but Maryland officials want federal funding to cover it all.
Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), along with all of Maryland’s representatives in the House, introduced the bicameral Baltimore BRIDGE Relief Act in April. During a July 10 hearing, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works considered the proposal.
There is an urgency to build a new bridge, as this area of Baltimore is one of the most congested traffic areas in the nation. With this route shut down, drivers are stressing other already loaded roads.
“We’ve seen an 18 percent increase in tunnel traffic, which is causing major delays through our tunnels,” Mr. Cardin said. “For hazardous materials and those who choose to take the detour around the beltway, it’s a 25-mile detour through a part of the beltway that already was congested with major delays, now having even more major delays. So make no mistake about it, there is a serious impact until that bridge is replaced.”
Even if they act quickly, it will take a few years to see traffic flowing there again, he said.
The Emergency Relief Program for Disaster-Damaged Highways and Bridges allows federal funds for permanent repairs to cover 80 percent for non-interstate roads and 90 percent for interstate highways.
After the Dali cargo ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, causing it to collapse and killing six people, the FHWA redesignated the bridge from a non-interstate to an interstate highway, meaning Maryland will be on the hook for 10 percent of reconstruction costs if required to contribute to the replacement.
Congress has occasionally authorized FHWA to pay 100 percent of expenses for repair and reconstruction projects, such as the Interstate 35W bridge that collapsed over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in 2007.
Major Backlog
The FHWA emergency relief fund was established in 1972 when it was funded at $100 million annually, a March report from the Congressional Research Service shows. The annual funding amount has not increased since then.Today there is a backlog of projects with total costs of $459 million waiting for allocated funds. Some projects have been waiting on funding for years. The FHWA has $559.7 million in emergency relief requests in 2024, not counting the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
California is waiting for $2.6 million from the federal government to repair road damage from rain storms in October 2015, and Alaska is waiting for $1.3 million to repair flood damage on the Dalton Highway, which also occurred in 2015.
Puerto Rico still needs $10.4 million for damage from Hurricane Fiona in 2022; Vermont still needs $37.7 million for infrastructure repair after severe flooding and landslides in July 2023; and Pennsylvania is still looking for $22 million for the June 2023 tanker fire on Interstate 95 that destroyed an overpass and halted traffic on a key route near Philadelphia.
These just are some of the projects that are still waiting for their allocated funds, but the backlog is even greater because not every project requesting funds makes the list.
“As of June 25, the current funding shortfall stands at $3.5 billion, with the backlog of 38 states and territories that have more than 130 eligible events,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said during the hearing.
The FHWA dispersed $60 million in quick release funding from the emergency relief program within two days of the Baltimore bridge collapse. Soon after the collapse, President Joe Biden promised the federal government would pay the entire bill.
“The Key Bridge was a revenue generating asset with more than $56 million in toll revenue collected in the year of 2023,” Ms. Capito said, adding the new structure will again be a toll bridge. “If Congress does not require Maryland to share in the cost of a project like the replacement of the Key Bridge, which will have a revenue source, how can Congress require any other recipient of [emergency relief] program funding to pay?”
Committee Chairman Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said proceeds from insurance payments and any fines from the incident, which could be substantial, would go back to the federal government.
