(NewsNation) — U.S. President Joe Biden is set to visit Maryland this week as crews work on cleaning the wreckage after the collapse of Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore last Tuesday.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is set to join Biden as he visits the state Friday.
Biden has said the federal government will pay the full cost of rebuilding the bridge. The Biden administration approved $60 million in immediate aid last Thursday.
Two workers survived, two bodies were found in a submerged pickup and four more men are presumed dead after a container ship plowed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, plunging multiple vehicles and people into the harbor below. Authorities said the ship lost power, and they are investigating to understand how this happened.
Moore acknowledged at a news conference Monday that there’s “an urgency to move fast” in recovery efforts, especially when it comes to finding the bodies of those still missing. At the same time, though, Moore said, “we have to be clear on the risks.”
“We are talking about tons of steel that is mangled and cantilevered. We’re talking about water that is so murky and so filled with debris that divers cannot see any more than a foot or two in front of them,” Moore told reporters. “We’re talking about a situation where a portion of the bridge beneath the water has been described by Unified Command as chaotic wreckage. Every time someone goes into water, they are taking a risk. Every time we move a piece of the structure, this situation could become even more dangerous. We have to move fast, but we cannot be careless.”
The United States Coast Guard on Monday opened a temporary, alternate channel for vessels involved in the clearing of debris at the site of the collapsed bridge. Some barges and tugs that have been stuck in the Port of Baltimore are set to pass as well.
“This will mark an important first step along the road to reopening the port of Baltimore,” Capt. David O’Connell, the federal on-scene coordinator of the response, said in a statement Sunday. “By opening this alternate route, we will support the flow of marine traffic into Baltimore.”
Moore said the temporary channel will be marked with government-funded lights to aid navigation, with a controlling depth of 11 feet.
A southwest channel for bigger vessels measuring about 15-16 feet deep should also be opening in the coming days, Moore said.
Officials say this is part of a phased approach to open the main channel — although they noted at a press conference that many challenges lie ahead.
Rebuilding the bridge could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, according to experts, although a final price will depend on the structure’s new design.
Crews are currently working to remove steel and concrete at the site. On Sunday, dive teams surveyed parts of the bridge and checked the ship while workers in lifts used torches to cut parts of the twisted steel superstructure that were above water, the Associated Press reported.
U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath said Monday their priority remains re-opening the bridge’s main channel, as well as removing the ship and any debris from the waterway, but “we are finding is it is more complicated than we’d hoped for initially.”
For instance, steel girders found by divers beneath the surface were tangled and intertwined, so it was hard to see how to cut and lift them out of the water, Gilreath said.
So far, crews were able to lift a 200-ton span of the bridge in about 10 hours, Moore said, although this is a “small lift” compared to what else they still have to do. Another piece, this one weighing about 350 tons, is expected to be taken from the bridge on Monday, Moore added.
“The scale of this project, to be clear, it is enormous,” Moore said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story is developing. Refresh for updates.
