Biden To Visit Baltimore Bridge Collapse Site This Week

BALTIMORE, MD — President Joe Biden will visit Baltimore on Friday to survey the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse site, more than a week after a massive cargo ship struck one of the main supports of the structure and caused a span to fall into the frigid Patapsco River.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed the president's visit during a press briefing Monday and said Biden plans to meet with state and local officials during the visit to get an "on-the-ground" look at response efforts.

"President Biden and his team are working with Gov. Moore, the congressional delegation, Mayor (Brandon) Scott, and numerous state and local officials to reopen the port, rebuild the bridge, and support the people of Baltimore," Jean-Pierre said Monday.

The bridge fell as the cargo ship Dali lost power on March 26 shortly after leaving Baltimore on its way to Sri Lanka. The ship issued a mayday alert, which allowed just enough time for police to stop traffic, but not enough to save a roadwork crew filling potholes on the bridge.

Authorities believe six workers plunged to their deaths in the collapse, including two whose bodies were recovered last week. Two other workers survived.

Crews are now working to remove steel and concrete at the collapse site. On Sunday, dive teams surveyed parts of the bridge and checked the ship, and workers in lifts used torches to cut above-water parts of the twisted steel superstructure.

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Moore, a Democrat, said at a Monday afternoon news conference that his top priority is recovering the four remaining bodies, followed by reopening shipping channels. He said that he understands the urgency but that the risks are significant. Crews have described the mangled steel girders of the fallen bridge as “chaotic wreckage," he said.

“What we’re finding is it is more complicated than we hoped for initially,” said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath.

Meanwhile, the ship remains stationary, and its 21 crew members remain on board for now, officials said.

On Monday, Rear Adm. Shannon N. Gilreath with the U.S. Coast Guard said a channel with a depth of 11 feet opened north of the collapsed bridge that will allow barges and tugboats to travel in and out of the port, which has been closed to boat traffic since the collapse, the Washington Post reported.

The tugboat Crystal Coast was the first vessel to pass through the channel at 3 p.m. Monday, according to the Post.

Officials said they're working on a second channel on the southwest side of the main channel that will allow for deeper draft vessels, but they didn't say when that might open.

Gov. Moore on Tuesday will visit one of two centers that the Small Business Administration opened in the area to help companies get loans to assist them with losses caused by the disruption of the bridge collapse.

In Annapolis, a hearing is scheduled Tuesday for a bill authorizing the use of state reserves to provide financial assistance to port employees who are out of work because of the bridge collapse. Lawmakers are working to pass the bill quickly in the last week of their legislative session, which ends Monday.

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"Baltimore’s road to recovery from this unthinkable tragedy will be long, but we will get through it together,” Mayor Scott said in a statement. “We are mobilizing every resource and agency available to help deal with the fallout of the Key Bridge collapse and will continue to do so until the entire Baltimore region overcomes the impacts."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read all of Patch's Key Bridge collapse coverage here.