The Facts
Early this morning, a huge cargo ship, stacked high with “inter-modal containers”, ran into the main bridge across the Baltimore, Maryland, harbor. In the darkness, several sections of the 1.2 mile Key Bridge collapsed. There was minimal traffic at that early hour, but there were construction workers doing routine maintenance. It’s a long way down to the forty-seven degree water. At best guess at this moment (Tuesday morning) at least seven are missing.
The Key Bridge is the main interstate bypass around downtown Baltimore, designated I-695. It’s “lucky” that the collision didn’t occur at rush hour, when the bridge would normally be bumper to bumper traffic.
What happened? How did a ship over a football field long, weighing 165,000 tons, run straight into a bridge pier? Did the Singapore based crew, bound for Sri Lanka, somehow miss the well-travelled and marked channel? Was there a failure of the ship systems, or negligence on the part of the crew, or some more nefarious “attack”? We don’t know.
Red or Blue
But this is what government is for. While we all get caught up in the politics of American life, Left and Right, Blue and Red; this emergency is why we elect officials either party. The tasks are: rescue of possible survivors, recovery of the dead, investigation of what happened, re-opening the harbor, re-routing the vehicle traffic, and rebuilding the Key Bridge. It will take cooperation from every level of our Federal system: the local emergency services, the state police and highway departments, the US Coast Guard, and the Department of Transportation’s Maritime and the Federal Highway Administrations. And don’t forget the Army Corps of Engineers.
And then there’s the money: to pay for the rescue, the recovery, the investigation, the clean-up and, most of all, the rebuilding. The Key Bridge cost $110 million when it was built in the early 1970’s. That’s over $800 million in today’s money. Every level; Baltimore, Annapolis (the state Capitol) and Washington, DC; will need to chip in.
All of this is not a “Red or Blue” issue. In fact, the Mayor of Baltimore, the Governor of Maryland, the Secretary of Transportation and the President are all Democrats, but that isn’t the point. All of these leaders are now put to the test. It’s the same test faced when the I-95 bridge collapsed in Philadelphia last year (a relatively simple overpass), and the I-35 Bridge collapse in Minneapolis back in 2007. That bridge was a quarter-mile long, with ten lanes, and cost $234 million to replace. It was constructed in fifteen months.
Competence, not Politics
What is likely NOT the cause of this disaster? Comments on Facebook included: “that’s what happens when you hire using DEI” (diversity-equity-inclusion). I’m sure the Singapore-based crew were certainly inclusive of West Asians, but not a product of US hiring practices. And it’s not likely that this was a “terrorist attack” (though that would make a great movie, starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck??). I’m sure that angle will be checked out. And it’s definitely not “the fault” of Transportation Secretary Buttigieg, even though he’s a Democrat. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t driving or guiding the ship out of the harbor.
This just isn’t about modern American politics. It’s about what we always expect our government to do, whether it’s Democrats in Maryland, or Republicans here in Ohio with the East Palestine train derailment. We expect the government to “take care” of the problems, and provide solutions as quickly as possible. Mayor Brandon Scott, Governor Wes Moore, Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and of course President Biden; it’s “all on” you.
