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This is a thread started by a conservative poster complaining that the government is going to pay to rebuild this bridge.
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your, and other conservatives acknowledgment that yes, of course the federal government should rebuild this bridge, is IMO an ackowledgment of the limits of the 'free market, Atlas Shrugged" ■■■■ on the government spending ethos that permeates Talk Radio Conservatism, which is what most here practice.
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What rhetoric? In the thread? Out in the world?
That’s a serious question, BTW
Yeah, I just read an article where every dock but one in that port is shutting down. Getting the project underway with government funds while insurance does what it does seems like a good idea.
Waiting for government approval.
(which won’t come no matter how snidely you word your post.)
According to CNN, the bridge generated $55.68m ($4.6m per month) in annual toll revenue.
That $4.6m per month (a 7% interest 30 years) works out to $670 million worth of bridge.
Based on some napkin math (I-5 bridge over Columbia River Ore.)
that’s about one-third the cost. So the tolls, (currently $2 per car) would have to be tripled or the private sector would have to do things one-third the cost of gov’t etc…
Some ■■■■■ hats need a reason to exist. 
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At least your guesses are reasonably close to (in the right direction of) my opinion.
The government does almost every thing more expensively than the private sector and
phrases like “behind schedule” and “over budget” are practically synonyms for “government construction.”
That said I believe if Joe Biden had meant to say “front the cost” of rebuilding then bridge then is carefully worded and well-rehearsed one paragraph statement would have used words like “front the cost.”
Government definitely creates dependency (on more government) and our traditional pooling of bridge construction costs is no exception. Tolls on the FSK bridge would cover roughly one-third (napkin math) of the replacement cost, which is probably the same at bridges all over the US.
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No! Let the Ayn Rand nation take care of it! Free marketers don’t need government intervention! They are the true angels of modern society!
Considering how important the bridge is, any Congress that vetoed the use of funds to rebuild it would be instantly pilloried.
The campaign ads would write themselves.
Our debt aside, this is one of the things the federal government SHOULD be involved in.
Yeah, to hell with 'em. I think this is a great example of what government should be doing: repairing critical infrastructure so we can get back to business.
Build the next bridge out of Reardon Steel.
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Is ■■■■-phobia the latest excuse for gross ineptitude?
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I say let’s take some money from bidens new green deal infrastructure bill that was passed and make the payment. No need to borrow any more money since the new green deal infrastructure bill was supposed to be used to fix infrastructure. There’s one trillion dollars to spend in that bill. At least that way a little of the money will have actually gone to fix infrastructure.
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Actually the Dimbulbcrats have been doing that to Maryland for decades.
Trump will inherit this debacle come Jan’25. He would do well to support whatever effort brings the shipping channels into Baltimore Harbor and the Marine Terminal back to working conditions ASAP. Not to mention the commercial crabbing and fishing businesses that depend on the waterways to survive.
This catastrophe is an economical disaster not to mention the public and commercial transportation reconfigurations. Losing that leg of I-695 will have unimaginable repercussions. And they’re just getting started.
I lived and worked in Eastern Baltimore County, ANNE Arundel County and traveled the FSK for 34 years daily. We took vacations to the Eastern Shore and traveled that bridge . I’m still in disbelief.
So you support Biden and his push to rebuild as quickly as possible. Awesome. I love to find a new Biden supporter on this forum.
Probably true.
Still I hasten to point out that in the old days the government did all the construction using government employees, at government expense scales and work ethic.
Now almost every step is bid out to private contractors. It seems to work better than than the old system.
Still, any project that has the government involved in any fashion
tends to come in over budget and behind schedule.
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I wonder, will the government, this time, delay bridge reconstruction because of mandated Environmental Impact studies and public hearings?
“Save the spoony-billed catfish?” or “Mandatory on-site childcare?”
who knows, maybe they’ll have to reserve 10% of the contracts to minority-owned enterprises or small business or some such.
Wow, even when the government serves only as general contractor, government sure does get in the way a lot, huh?
I think the ship owner and or their insurance company should pay for the damage. The bridge was originally constructed financed by the State of MD and matching Federal funds. (SHA/FAP)
Who is Joe Potato Head and by what authority does he think he has to proclaim the US goobermint will shoulder the cost to rebuild the bridge and clear the shipping channels?
Other than another weak ass vote buying scheme. 
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LOL
Act 1 of why the rebuild project will be delayed once the goobermint agencies get involved. 
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Maybe there will be a government-mandated study and government-mandated clean-up before re-construction begins.
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The cargo ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore was carrying dozens of hazardous material containers, some of which were breached during the collapse, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced Wednesday. . . .
She said one of the NTSB senior hazmat investigators identified “56 containers of hazardous materials” on Dali, a 985-foot-long vessel.
“That’s 764 tons of hazardous materials — mostly corrosives, flammables and some miscellaneous hazardous materials, class nine hazardous materials which would include lithium-ion batteries,” . . . .
I’ll be quite honest. I’m really not even sure what the point of this thread is. It’s just spinning around about reasons to be upset by some people. With no real focus. A lot of it upset about things that haven’t even happened. Pre getting upset over something that they want to happen but hasn’t but really hope it will so they can get upset about it. Not sure what kind of life that is.
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