State transportation officials are holding firm on a projected cost of $5.2 billion to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge, despite reports of some estimates nearly twice that amount.
Maryland will part ways later this year with the current contractor, Nebraska-based Kiewit Infrastructure, after failing to reach agreement on a final project cost. State officials have refused to disclose the amount sought by Kiewit, citing confidential negotiations, but some estimates have placed Kiewit’s asking price as high as $9 billion.
But Transportation Secretary Kathryn Thomson and other officials told members of House Appropriations and the Environment and Transportation committees that they estimate the cost at about $5.2 billion.
Thomson said the transportation officials “worked with independent cost estimators and Federal Highways and did our own analysis to better understand what the cost of the bridge — the remaining demolition and reconstruction — would cost, and put that out in the report that we released in November of last year.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Bryan Sears over at Maryland Matters
