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NewsTranscript
00:00Senator Collins. Thank you very much Mr. Chairman and Vice Chair Hyde-Smith as
00:10well. Welcome Secretary Buttigieg. I want to talk to you about the collapse of the
00:17Francis Scott Key Bridge because it brought to light some serious potential
00:23vulnerabilities of other bridges that were built prior to the regulations
00:29requiring the use of barriers to protect pillars. Now it's my understanding that
00:37as far back as the 1970s the National Transportation Safety Board recommended
00:46studying which existing bridges had inadequate structural peer protection. So
00:55we clearly need to have a better understanding of how many other bridges
01:02there are out there that could be subjected to the same sort of
01:08catastrophic collapse. What has your department been doing to identify these
01:15bridges in the light of the Baltimore Bridge collapse and do you have a
01:22comprehensive list? Thank you and we are very focused on this. As you note there
01:30has been attention to this for decades particularly after a similarly
01:34catastrophic bridge impact in 1980 in Florida which gave rise to the AASHTO
01:41standards which federal regulations pay attention to. They require that new bridge
01:48construction projects consider the need for and the design of peer protection. I
01:52do want to take care to preface anything else I say by acknowledging that the NTSB
01:56operates independently from us. They were of course independently assessing the
02:01the causes of this incident and it is too soon to know whether any bridge
02:08design currently known could have withstood a direct impact of the 248
02:14million pounds that went into that pier. But bridges have increasingly been
02:20designed with what are called dolphins, fenders, or islands around their supports
02:25in order to mitigate the impact of a potential collision. I think that even as
02:32NTSB continues their work we will be able to continue our dialogue with AASHTO
02:38on the standards that they have. And while there is not an inventory of
02:44bridges that is scoped for analysis based on what size vessel impact at what
02:51speed each of them might be able to withstand, I think we do need to assess
02:55where the most critical points are where we would prioritize investment in the
03:00resilience of the legacy infrastructure that we have. Much as we've made
03:06investments for example in the seismic resilience of some bridges through the
03:10bridge investment or protect programs. Thank you. I want to thank the Department
03:16of Merit specifically for working closely with Maine Maritime Academy to
03:23reach a cooperative funding agreement for their pier infrastructure
03:28improvements. I will tell you that Maine Maritime recently received bids that
03:33were far higher than anticipated. That's not uncommon in any kind of
03:40construction project as we see the impact of escalating costs of materials,
03:47specialized labor, and other inflationary pressures. And we continue to provide
03:55sufficient funding to satisfy the federal cost share requirements. But I am
04:02asking for your commitment to continue working with Maine Maritime Academy and
04:08my staff to ensure that these shoreside infrastructure improvements can in fact
04:16accommodate the new training vessels for which the committee has appropriated
04:22funds. And that will very shortly, they're under construction now, they will shortly
04:27start rolling out. Thank you. We are excited about these new vessels. We
04:33understand they have their own infrastructure needs and yes you have
04:35our commitment to work with your office and with the Academy to help them
04:39prepare. Thank you. And finally just a general comment since I have 18 seconds
04:44and that is I just want to express my concern about the budget cutting funding
04:54for programs that receive funding from the landmark infrastructure bill. When we
05:01wrote that law we made very clear that it was to be supplemental and it was not
05:09to be used to substitute for the funding for these programs in the president's
05:16budget. But it seems like for the second year in a row that's exactly what is
05:22happening and that really concerns me because this funding is finite. It's
05:27going to end. It was intended to help our country catch up on a lot of delayed
05:35maintenance and to improve the infrastructure to expand broadband lots
05:41of purposes. It was not intended to be a substitute for the regular funding. Thank
05:48you Mr. Chairman.