Baltimore bridge collapse: Biden administration approves $60M aid request, Maryland governor says

Not just the lives that they saved by being able to Halt traffic just as the bridge was collapsing but also the unimaginable reality that even after the bridge had collapsed had that traffic not been stopped in the darkness cars would have continued to come so the life-saving work that they

Did cannot be overstated and our gratefulness is Everlasting earlier today we also visited the r Adams C shock trauma center and as you know one of the survivors of this tragedy was treated there the folks at Shock Trauma they are our angels and I want to thank all of

Our eery emergency Personnel to include the United States Coast Guard the Maryland State Police the Maryland Transportation Authority and the mdta police natural resources police Baltimore City Fire and police departments in Baltimore City Prince George’s County and aruno County and also Baltimore County and I also want to

Thank people who have been reaching out from all across the country and all across the world and this evening I want to give a few a few special thank yous one to our members of the general assembly uh in Maryland who as we’re going to the process of wrapping up

Another legislative session have just been consistent Partners throughout and I know that any response that we have is going to be a collective one but also I want to give a special thanks to all the governors who have contacted me I’ve heard from many Chief Executives both

Past and present I have heard from Governors who are both Democrats and Republicans Governors from Big States and little States they’ve shared their support and they share their counsel and they’ve reminded me that in this moment Maryland is not alone at this point in the recovery we are moving at full speed

On a number of key priorities and I’ve issued four directives to this team the first we need to continue to focus on recovery because it is Our obligation to bring a sense of closure to these families the second we need to clear the channel and open vessel traffic to the

Port because the health of the Maryland economy and the National economy depends on it third we need to take care of all the people who have been affected by this crisis and that means the families that means the workers that means the businesses that means the First Responders that means

Everybody and in the military I know I was taught something and one of the things we were taught is you always take care of your people and we are going to make sure that in this moment we take care of our people and fourth we need to rebuild the Francis Scott Key

Bridge going forward you can expect regular updates on each of these four directives but I want to be clear this work will not take hours this work will not take days this work will not just take weeks we have a very long road ahead of us we understand that and we’re

Preparing and yesterday morning our team and members of the federal delegation travel to the site of the collapse on a Coast Guard Cutter you’ve had a chance to see the wreckage from far away yesterday we had a chance to see it up close and when you have a chance to see

That wreckage up close you fully understand the enormity of the challenge this is an incredibly complex job and our timeline will be long and all of us can remember when the container ship that got stuck in the Suz Canal a few years ago when that happened it’s

Important to remember that it took five weeks to dislodge that ship well if you think about what the dolly is the dolly is almost as long as the Eiffel Tower and the dolly has the Key Bridge on top of it we’re talking 3 to 4,000 tons of steel

That’s sitting on top of that ship so we’ve got work to do but we’re moving so first on recovery the best evidence we have at this time suggests that to advance our recovery efforts we need to do more work in order to clear the channel as of last night the

Maryland State Police have suspended diving operations due to security concerns and further educ engineering analysis is ongoing to determine our next steps to bring closure to the families and set the course for Salvage operations as of this morning I also received a briefing from the unified command on the extraordinary conditions

Our divers are working under what our divers are seeing right now is this is that water is so dark and the debris is so dense that in most instances our divers cannot see any more than a foot or two in front of of them so much of the operation is simply

Feel these divers have been methodical they’ve been disciplined they have been courageous diving in darkness with objects all around them and so to all of our divers I want to let them know that we are grateful for their service second on clearing the channel and opening The Vessel traffic to the

Port I’ve said it before I will say it again and I will keep on saying it this is not just about Maryland this is about the nation’s economy the port handles more cars and more farm equipment than any other port in America and at least 8,000 workers on

The docks have jobs that have been directly affected by this collapse our economy depends on the Port of Baltimore and the Port of Baltimore depends on vessel traffic yesterday we were briefed by the commander of the US Army Corps of Engineers for the Baltimore district and

She laid out her team’s efforts with the US Navy to mobilize major resources from around the country at record speed to clear the channel under the leadership of Colonel pin Chason the Army Corps is moving the largest crane in the Eastern Seaboard to Baltimore to help us and is estimated

That that will arrive later on this evening we cannot rebuild the Bridge until we have cleared the debris we are working closely with our partners to Marshall the funds to move forward on that build so we can be ready when we reach that point of the

Work and I want to end by assuring the people of Maryland that this work is moving together at a full clip to the people of this state I say we are going to get through this because we are Maryland tough and we are Baltimore strong

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore provided an update for ongoing operations after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed when it was struck by a container ship early Tuesday morning.

Moore said the Biden administration swiftly approved their request of $60 million in funds for “initial mobilization, operations and debris recovery efforts.”

Moore thanked officers who were also recognized during the Baltimore Orioles home opener Thursday where they were honoured for their efforts in stopping cars after the bridge collapsed.

The governor also said that the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers are moving the largest crane on the eastern seaboard to assist in recovery efforts.

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