Cardin: We Can ‘Streamline’ Replacing Baltimore Bridge, ‘Cut Through Some Red Tape’ Other Projects Face

During an interview with ABC News on Tuesday, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) stated that while clearing the debris from Baltimore’s collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge from the harbor and then replacing the collapsed bridge will take time, “we can streamline it” compared to other projects and “cut through some red tape” that exists for other projects.

Cardin said, “It’s going to take time, we don’t know how long. The rescue missions will be completed pretty quickly, we expect that. We then go in to assess what we can do to remove the debris. And it’s not stable, so we have to make sure no one gets hurt in removing the debris. That will take some time. We’re not going to get that done overnight. It’s going to take some time. It may need heavy equipment. Fortunately, we have some heavy equipment in the region. So, it’ll take a bit of time to be able to assess what we can do to clear the channel, which is our first priority. Then replacing a bridge is going to take some time. I know that we can streamline it, cut through some red tape. But it’s still going to take some time.”

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