President Joe Biden puzzled Baltimore residents and commuters on Tuesday after he recalled commuting by train over Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key bridge, that collapsed after it was hit by a container ship.
‘A container ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which I’ve been over many, many times commuting from the state of Delaware either on a train or by car,’ Biden said.
The 1.6 mile arch and truss bridge has four lanes of Interstate 695 road traffic that crosses the Patapsco River and the outer Baltimore harbor, but does not include train tracks.
US President Joe Biden recalled traveling by train over the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore
A cargo ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday morning, causing it to collapse
Biden spent his decades-long political career in Congress traveling on the Amtrak train from Washington, DC to his home in Delaware.
The Amtrak train route includes a stop in Baltimore, but goes around the harbor without crossing it.
The White House disputed reports about the president’s faulty commuting recollection.
‘The President was clearly describing driving over the bridge while commuting between Delaware and D.C. during his 36-year Senate career,’ White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson said in a statement to the New York Post.
Biden vowed in a speech Tuesday he would ‘move heaven and earth’ to rebuild the bridge as soon as possible and reopen the Baltimore port, even though he acknowledged it would take time.
‘It’s my intention that federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge, and I expect to — the Congress to support my effort,’ he said.