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Dive brief:
- With the collapsed remains of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in his wake, President Joe Biden on Friday returned his commitment to the federal government to fund the span’s replacement, saying he would “move heaven and earth” to rebuild it quickly.
- During a windswept afternoon on the banks of the Patapsco River, the president said the top priority remains opening the channel to port traffic and emphasized the goal of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers clearing the way for commercial ships at the end of May.
- Biden said the new bridge would be built “with union labor and American steel,” as it was located on the grounds of the Maryland Transportation Authority police headquarters, about a half-mile to the east of the section
Diving knowledge:
Biden’s remarks came after an aerial tour of the wreckage and an operational briefing on the current state of the bridge.
He said the six construction workers who died on the bridge were on break at the time, and said one, Carlos Hernandez, had just left a message with his girlfriend that they had poured concrete and were waiting for it to dry. . Biden used this metaphor for his own promises to replace the stretch.
“My vote is that we will not rest, as Carlos said, until the cement has dried on the entirety of a new bridge,” Biden said, prompting applause from the crowd of officials gathered behind him. Onlookers included Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.
The bridge’s collapse has halted ship traffic there from Baltimore Harbor indefinitely, but crews have cleared two lanes for smaller ships to navigate, with plans for a third. The channels are primarily for vessels involved in the cleanup effort, AP News reported.
On Thursday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released an updated timeline for clearing a 280-foot-wide, 35-foot-deep channel by the end of April. He said the canal would allow one-way traffic in and out of the port, including barge containers and some ships carrying automobiles and farm equipment.
The USACE said then that it would aim to reopen the 700-foot-wide, 50-foot-deep permanent channel by the end of May, something Biden reiterated in his speech. Doing so would restore port access to normal capacity, according to the agency.
Shrink the background
The Keys Bridge collapsed on Tuesday, March 26 around 1:30 a.m. when the nearly 1,000-foot-long freighter Dali collided with one of its piers.
Although a May Day boat crew prompted police to stop traffic flow on the bridge that night, eight construction workers performing road maintenance work for contractor Brawner Builders of Hunt Valley, Md. , they fell into the Patapsco River. Two were saved, but six died in the collapse.
The men who died have been identified as:
- Dorlian Ronial Cabrera Castle, 26.
- Alexandre “Alex” Hernández Fuentes, 35.
- Carlos Hernández, 24.
- Jose Mynor López, 30 years old.
- Miguel Luna, 49.
- Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, 38 years old.
Crews recovered the bodies of Cabrera and Fuentes from a red pickup truck submerged under 25 feet of water. The other bodies have yet to be recovered; doing so may require further waste disposal.
After his remarks on Friday, Biden planned to meet with the loved ones of the six construction workers who died.
Joe Bousquin and Julie Strupp contributed to this report.
