The President of the United States, Joe Biden, has approved a sixty million dollar aid plan to help clean up and rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
A cargo ship hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge and it fell down last week. The cargo ship was in Baltimore Harbor when it lost power twice. This caused it to veer off course and hit a bridge beam, which caused it to fall into the water completely.
When asked, the Federal Highway Administration said it would have “quick release” funds that could be used to rebuild the bridge within hours. It was Biden who said the government should “move heaven and earth” to fix the bridge.
When asked about the disaster, Pete Buttigieg, the US Transportation Secretary, said, “No one will ever forget the shocking images of a container ship colliding with the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse and the tragic deaths of six people.”
“The federal emergency funds we’re releasing today will help Maryland start important work right away. As recovery and rebuilding efforts move forward, more funds will be made available.” President Biden has made it clear that the US government will do everything it can to help fix the bridge and open the Port of Baltimore again, he said.
Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland said that the state has a “Very long road ahead” to recover from the crash. Many thousands of tons of steel need to be taken off the ship and cleaned up so that the bridge can be fixed as soon as possible.
At the moment, authorities are focused on cleaning up everything so they can find the bodies of the missing people who are thought to be trapped in their vehicles underwater.
It takes a lot of work to take off the Dali’s bridge because the ship is as long as the Eiffel Tower. That’s just the repair work that needs to be done. According to people from the Federal government, the bridge needs about two billion dollars worth of repairs.
