On Monday, Governor Wes Moore released the following statement regarding the release of the updated cost estimate and planned schedule for the Francis Scott Key Bridge rebuild:
“The Francis Scott Key Bridge and the Port of Baltimore are critically important to our nation’s economy. Preliminary cost and project time estimates were made less than two weeks after the initial crash and before any engineering or design studies were conducted. Since then, national economic conditions have deteriorated and material costs have increased. At the same time, elevated costs have resulted from federal design and resilience standards — not discretionary state choices.
“Just as families across the country are dealing with the reality of increased costs, so is Maryland. Trade policies out of Washington, D.C. have raised prices on everything — including essential materials we need in order to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Still, despite this new economic reality, our resolve is unwavering…