Posted on May 5, 2026
By Ben Mause
WASHINGTON — Rep. Andy Harris said on Monday that the cost of rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge was expected to nearly double the previous $5 billion estimate before the project’s main contractor was let go. Now, he’s urging the federal government to reconsider funding as delays continue.
A fiscal conservative and member of the committee that approved the original funding for the new bridge, Harris estimated the ultimate price of the rebuild would have reached $8 to $9 billion under the previous contractor, citing committee meeting conversations. “
Based on discussions and briefings I’ve participated in through my work on the Appropriations Committee, including internal, non-public discussions among members, it’s clear the cost of the Key Bridge project could climb into the $8 billion to $9 billion range — a far cry from what Marylanders were originally told,” Harris, an Eastern Shore Republican, said Monday in a statement to The Baltimore Sun.
Harris said that the $8 billion to $9 billion estimate was the reason that the initial contractor, Kiewit Infrastructure, was removed last week. The House Freedom Caucus chair added that he would like Congress to reconsider how much money to allocate to the project. “The federal government should not be expected to write a blank check for a project with this level of uncertainty,” Harris said on Monday morning during a radio show. “At these projected costs, the federal share must be reevaluated and renegotiated to ensure accountability and protect taxpayers.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Transportation referred The Sun to the state. A spokesperson for Gov. Wes Moore referred to a statement issued after last week’s firing, when Moore said the contractor’s proposed price and timeline were “unreasonably high and therefore unacceptable” — a decision informed by independent cost estimates conducted by the state.
