Baltimore Bridge Will Be Rebuilt With Safety, Sustainability & Community Focus, DOT Says

The design and repairs to the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore will include increasing its resilience to climate change, as well as safety, according to the press release announcing the release of an initial $60 million in emergency relief funds to begin recovery and repairs. It says, “The FHWA Emergency Relief program complements the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law by encouraging agencies to identify and implement measures to incorporate resilience in the design, restoration and repair of damaged infrastructure, in order to better withstand future damage from climate change and future weather events.”

The huge bridge collapsed on March 26^th upon being struck by the massive 95,000 ton Dali cargo ship. Repairs are being managed by local Maryland officials in coordination with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said, “No one will ever forget the shocking images of a container vessel striking the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing its collapse and the tragic loss of six people,” according to the DOT press release after the tragedy. “The federal emergency funds we’re releasing today will help Maryland begin urgent work, to be followed by further resources as recovery and rebuilding efforts progress. President Biden has been clear: the federal government will do everything it takes to help rebuild the bridge and get the Port of Baltimore back open.”

Coordinating with local communities and governments

This coordination is how all transportation programs, including those under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, are being executed, Deputy Secretary of Transportation Polly Trottenberg said in an exclusive interview on Electric Ladies Podcast. She stressed that local communities know best what they need and where they need it.

“We have put a big focus on community engagement, on making sure that we are bringing, you know, particularly underrepresented communities, communities of color, tribal communities, low income communities that frankly have not always had the seat at the table that they should, as we've planned transportation projects,” Trottenberg said. “We are very focused on bringing in local voices and making sure that they are part of the discussion.”

The DOT is reaching out in a number of ways, she said, “We have, you know, a number of programs that are enabling us to do that. We are obviously trying to encourage jurisdictions around the country to work with us on that, and they are bringing us fantastic ideas too.” She emphasized that, “there is so much creativity going on at the state and local level right now.”

Identifying innovative solutions from local communities – including to reduce the carbon impact of transportation

The DOT is engaging local communities to unearth the most appropriate solutions for them. “Particularly with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, all kinds of discretionary grant programs where we are fostering, I think, some of those experiments and some of that really revolutionary work and really particularly trying to empower states and localities to bring us their best ideas,” Trottenberg explained. “It's a decentralized system. It doesn't all flow from Washington. We want a lot of it to flow up from different parts of the country. Their needs, their priorities, you know, their best ideas.”

She’s especially sensitive to listening to localities also because she was one of them. She served as New York City’s Transportation Commissioner for seven years, including through the covid pandemic. Trottenberg focused on “sustainable transportation” there as well.

Transportation is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), at 29%, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Therefore, addressing climate change requires reducing that dramatically. Reducing its impact on the environment and reducing its resilience to climate effects, including extreme weather events, is a large factor of the Infrastructure Act, as well as of the Inflation Reduction Act.

“Another thing that has become more revolutionary, and this is a reason I'm so proud to be in the Biden administration, the focus on climate change. That is definitely a generational change in how we view transportation,” Trottenberg said. “As you say, transportation is the largest contributor of greenhouse gases and, therefore, something our secretary often says also potentially the largest solution.”

“Hundreds of billions of dollars”

The DOT portfolio includes aviation and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),” is the largest 24 7 safety critical operation in the federal government,” according to Trottenberg, which they “oversee and manage directly.” It also includes rail through the Federal Rail Administration, and roads and bridges, including the FHWA, the Highway Safety Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, mass transit through the Federal Transit Administration, and the Maritime Administration, including running the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

Calling this time “a once in a generation opportunity with the bipartisan infrastructure law,” Trottenberg talked about the administration allocating “hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars to invest in building up an electric vehicle charging network and giving cities and states dollars to spend on mass transit, on decarbonizing different parts of their system on fostering more walking and biking on passenger rail, on things that we have talked about a lot in American transportation policy.”

“This is a revolutionary period in American transportation.”

Listen to the full interview with Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg on Electric Ladies Podcast here.