How much will it cost to rebuild the Baltimore Bridge?

US President Joe Biden pledged to visit Baltimore as soon as possible, and said that he wants the federal government to pay the costs of rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday morning after a huge cargo ship collided with it.

Rescue personnel recovered two survivors, one of whom is still in hospital, and are continuing searches for more victims in the Patapsco River after the 2.57-kilometre-long Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed into the water.

What happened?
The ship reported a power problem before the collision, which enabled officials to stop traffic on the bridge before the collapse.
“They (officials) are heroes after they were able to prevent cars from getting on the bridge,” Maryland Governor Wes Moore said in a press conference.
According to Moore, the bridge was compatible with his programming instructions and there were no known problems with its architecture.
Officials said there was no evidence that the incident occurred as a result of a crime.
Paul Wiedefeld, state transportation official, said eight people were on the bridge at the time of the collision and six are still missing, hours after the accident that led to the closure of one of the busiest ports in the United States.

How much will it cost to rebuild the bridge?
According to the president of the engineering and architectural consulting firm COWIfonden, David McKenzie, told the British “Sky News” network, the need to rebuild quickly will lead to raising the cost to at least ten times the original price in the 1970s, which was about 60 million dollars.
McKenzie’s estimate of the cost of rebuilding the bridge is $600 million.

What is the importance of the bridge?
The Port of Baltimore is the busiest US port for automobile shipments, handling more than 750,000 vehicles in 2022.
The opening of the Francis Scott Key Bridge dates back to 1977.
The bridge is the main thoroughfare between New York and Washington for those who want to avoid downtown Baltimore.
It is one of three ways to cross the Port of Baltimore, and 31,000 cars pass through it daily, or 11.3 million vehicles annually.