“The Great Baltimore Comeback Starts Now,” Congressional Candidate Says

BALTIMORE, MD, UNITED STATES, October 12, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Dave Wallace, Republican nominee for Congress in Maryland’s 2nd Congressional District, today called on the President of the United States to designate reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge as a “National Emergency Infrastructure Project” and direct the U.S. Department of Transportation to exercise every lawful authority available to accelerate its replacement.

Wallace’s proposal calls for federal leadership and oversight, an Emergency Bridge Reconstruction Task Force under Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and continuous construction wherever safely and legally feasible.

“Baltimore has waited long enough,” Wallace said. “The loss of the Key Bridge is costing our region time, productivity, jobs, business opportunities, and precious hours that working mothers and fathers should be spending with their families instead of sitting in Beltway traffic. The Great Baltimore Comeback starts NOW.”

An Emergency Task Force With One Mission: Get the Bridge Built

Wallace proposed establishing a task force to coordinate engineering, permitting, procurement, fabrication, logistics, site preparation, and construction. These activities should proceed simultaneously wherever safety requirements and applicable law permit, he said.

He also called for expedited selection, consistent with applicable procurement requirements, of a highly qualified general contractor with proven experience in major bridge construction and the capacity to operate a genuine 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week project.

Wallace proposed an aggressive construction objective: completing the bridge within eight months of erecting the first permanent structural girder. The proposed target would require engineering and construction review to determine feasibility while maintaining safety and quality standards.

“This is America,” Wallace said. “We built the Interstate Highway System. We built the greatest industrial economy in history. We put Americans on the Moon. We can build one magnificent bridge across the Patapsco River without accepting endless delay as the new normal.”

A Transportation, Economic, and National Defense Asset

Wallace emphasized the bridge’s role in the Interstate 695 corridor and the transportation network serving the Port of Baltimore. His proposal calls for a replacement designed to meet long-term transportation, commercial, security, and defense mobility needs.

The new bridge, he said, should be stronger, safer, more resilient, more secure, and more durable—and serve as a demonstration of American engineering and industrial capability.

Wallace also called for broad participation by Maryland workers and businesses, including construction companies, paving contractors, concrete producers, steel fabricators, equipment suppliers, truckers, engineers, and skilled tradespeople. Union and open-shop contractors should have opportunities to compete based on capability, safety, quality, price, and performance, consistent with applicable requirements.

“This project isn’t merely about concrete and steel,” Wallace said. “It’s about putting Maryland back to work. It’s about rebuilding our industrial strength. It’s about restoring the transportation system businesses depend upon and giving families back the hours they’re losing every week.”

Build the Bridge—and Build for the Future

Wallace described reconstruction of the Key Bridge as the starting point for a broader effort to strengthen Baltimore’s transportation, industrial, port, manufacturing, and energy infrastructure.

“This bridge can become the starting point of something much greater,” Wallace said. “Baltimore was built by people who manufactured steel, built ships, moved freight, worked our docks, constructed our highways and created things the entire world needed. We can become that kind of industrial powerhouse again.”

Wallace also called on the President to direct appropriate federal agencies to evaluate any credible new evidence concerning the circumstances of the bridge collapse. Any additional inquiry, he said, should follow established transportation-safety, intelligence, law-enforcement, and legal procedures, with appropriate public transparency.

“The Great Baltimore Comeback isn’t a slogan,” Wallace said. “It’s a mission. And it starts NOW.”

DAVE WALLACE FOR CONGRESS — MARYLAND’S 2ND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

RESTORE AMERICA’S MISSION^® — RAM^®

Paid for by Wallace for America.

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Derek Noyes
Restore America's Mission
+1 443-693-2208
pressrelease@restoreamericasmission.com
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