Maryland authorities have revealed that the timeline for reconstructing the Francis Scott Key Bridge will extend two years longer than anticipated, with costs exceeding twice the original estimate.
This announcement was made on Monday, just ahead of a National Transportation Safety Board meeting scheduled for Tuesday to discuss the 2024 bridge collapse that tragically claimed six lives. According to officials, the reconstruction project, now projected to finish in 2030, is expected to reach costs as high as $5.2 billion, as reported by The Washington Post.
“Estimating large-scale projects is challenging,” said Jim Harkness, Chief Engineer at the Maryland Transportation Authority. “Market dynamics play a significant role in these calculations.”
The Maryland Transportation Authority explained that the initial projection of approximately $1.9 billion was derived from quick assessments made to ensure the acquisition of federal funding.
An image captures the container ship Dali amid the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge nearly a week after it collided with a structural pier, leading to the bridge’s collapse on April 1, 2024. (Photo credit: Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service/Getty Images)
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had earlier anticipated this surge in costs. In August, he cautioned that the expenses could potentially be “double plus” the original estimate.
“It’s like if you go to dinner, and someone else is buying, you might order the finest, most expensive steak on the menu, versus if you’re buying, you might go, ‘I might get a little cheaper cut,’” Duffy said at the time.
Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, also noted in a statement to the Post that material costs have risen since the initial prediction last year.
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy predicted in August that the price tag for repairing the Key Bridge would spike. (Eric Lee/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump’s administration pushed back on Moore’s rebuilding plans in September, with Duffy writing a letter to the governor thanking him for working with USDOT on the project but expressing concern that Annapolis may “intend to award contracts for the FSK Bridge project in a manner that relies on race and sex of contractors.”
He warned the governor of the potential legal ramifications of doing so, citing the Civil Rights Act.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge was built in 1977 and saw around 31,000 vehicles daily before its collapse last year. (Tasos Katopodis)
On the day it collapsed, then-President Joe Biden separately promised the federal government would cover the entire estimated $1.8 billion cost to make Interstate 695 a full circle once more, while Duffy instead referenced the state – as the MDTA controlled the FSK Bridge when it collapsed.
