Governor details early plan to remove Baltimore bridge
By Madeline Halpert
Maryland’s governor has provided early details of his plan to clean up wreckage after a cargo ship hit a major bridge Baltimore, killing six.
To help, the Biden administration has approved $60m (£47m) in emergency funds that Maryland had requested.
Governor Wes Moore outlined how they intended to clear debris, remove the ship, extract bridge pieces and rebuild it.
“We have a very long road ahead of us,” he said.
Speaking alongside lawmakers at a news conference on Thursday, Mr Moore outlined plans for each stage of the process, which he said will pose several challenges.
For one, the governor said, the cargo vessel that hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge – called the Dali – is nearly as long as the Eiffel Tower.
He contrasted the situation to the 2021 incident in which it took five weeks to remove a cargo ship that had gotten stuck in the Suez Canal. The difference here, the governor said, is that the Key Bridge is on top of the vessel.
“We’re talking 3,000 to 4,000 tons of steel that’s sitting on that ship,” Mr Moore said.
