Baltimore bridge collapse could wipe out emergency federal highway fund
Source: Washington Post
ECONOMIC POLICY
Baltimore bridge collapse could wipe out emergency federal highway fund
Maryland might jump in front of states that have sought highway disaster aid for more than a decade
By Jacob Bogage
April 11, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
Maryland and Baltimore may jump ahead of states that have waited more than a decade for emergency highway funding, as the federal government swoops in with aid after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
The Federal Highway Administration’s emergency relief fund, which reimburses states for expenses to repair or reconstruct roadways after disasters, has a $2.1 billion backlog of projects and only $890 million on hand, according to data obtained by The Washington Post.
That money is not paid on a first-come, first-served basis, leaving some states waiting years to be made whole after a disaster. Baltimore’s needs could both move to the top of the list and also wipe out the money left in the FHWA’s emergency account, pressing Congress into urgent action to replenish the agency’s coffers.
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Maryland could require more than $1 billion to rebuild the Key Bridge, which collapsed on March 26 after it was struck by the massive container ship Dali. But state and federal officials still aren’t sure of the exact needs — 12,000 tons of steel and concrete still lie at the bottom of the murky Patapsco River, and 5,000 tons lie atop the grounded Dali, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.
Federal transportation officials have already given Maryland $60 million in “quick release” funding to divert traffic away from the roadway and assist other highways that are absorbing the nearly 30,000 vehicles that traversed the bridge each day.
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/04/11/baltimore-bridge-collapse-highways/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Also, cite the source saying that the bridge's supports were scheduled for reinforcement.
Were you referring to the dolphins?
Concrete structures meant to protect Baltimore bridge appear unchanged for decades
APRIL 4, 2024 5:13 AM ET
HEARD ON MORNING EDITION
By Chiara Eisner, Caitlin Thompson
The cargo ship Dali sits in the water, surrounded by four concrete dolphins, after running into and collapsing the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, 2024, in Baltimore.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Seconds before the container ship Dali hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore last week and tore it down, killing six construction workers, it sailed past a structure designed to prevent that kind of disaster.
Those structures — known as dolphins — are circular concrete constructions located near a bridge's central supports. Vessels are meant to crash into them if they veer off track in the shipping channel, diverting them from collision with the bridge. Four such dolphins remain intact in the Patapsco River. The one the Dali narrowly missed is located on the right side of the ship, and is dwarfed in size by the vessel which appears to be more than 15 times as long.
Experts said if the Baltimore bridge had been outfitted with more robust collision-prevention structures, it may not have been struck. Although Maryland has invested in repairing the Key Bridge, records reviewed by NPR indicate the dolphins have not been substantially changed since they were built in the 1970s.
A more robust protection system would have given the Dali a better chance of hitting the dolphins before the vessel collided with the bridge, said Roberto Leon, a professor of structural engineering at Virginia Tech. ... "They were very, very small," said Leon. "You needed more, and bigger ones, is really the point."
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The bridge was designed in the early '70s and opened in 1977. The Dali was three times the size of container ships in use when the bridge opened but half the size of the largest container ships in use today.
Thanks for writing.
