U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy expects the replacement of the Francis Scott Key Bridge to cost more than Maryland officials have estimated.

A lot more.

“The original estimates I don’t think are anywhere near accurate,” Duffy told reporters Wednesday aboard an Amtrak Acela train. “I think it’s going to be double, plus.”

Preliminary estimates to build the modern, cable-stayed bridge currently in design to replace the span, which collapsed into the Patapsco River in March 2024 after it was struck by a mammoth container ship, put the cost between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion.

The collapse roughly 17 months ago took the lives of six construction workers, closed the Port of Baltimore for more than a month and thrust Charm City into the international spotlight.

Shortly after, then-President Joe Biden pledged that the federal government would pay for the full cost of the replacement instead of the typical 90% funded through a Federal Highway Administration disaster program. Congress later approved the idea in budget negotiations.

But last week, in the midst of a war of words with Gov. Wes Moore, President Donald Trump suggested he would withhold the money, saying on social media that “I gave Wes Moore a lot of money to fix his demolished bridge. I will now have to rethink that decision???”

“There is nothing that has Donald Trump’s signature that has to do with the Key Bridge,” Moore said this week on the Roland Martin Unfiltered show.

“We cannot have someone take something away from us when they never gave it to us in the first place,” the Democratic governor said. “And I’m thankful to the bipartisan members of Congress for their ability to have a vision for what it means to rebuild this country together, and we will continue to work to make them proud in that effort.”

Asked about the exchange Wednesday between Moore and his boss, Duffy said he and Trump have not had a conversation about it and he hasn’t received any further directive about Key Bridge funding.

However, Duffy did share a concern about Congress approving 100% federal funding for it.

“If you don’t have a skin in the game because you’re not paying for it, it’s like if you go to dinner and someone else is buying, you might order the finest, most expensive steak on the menu, versus if you’re buying, you might go ‘I’m gonna get a little bit cheaper cut,” Duffy said.

Preliminary designs for the future bridge do show a more modern span, but it is essentially a one-to-one replacement of the old bridge. It will have the same number of lanes as before, and the changes, including adding shoulders, building it taller, and using a cable-stayed design instead of continuous truss are the result of new safety standards, port requirements and engineering best practices that weren’t in place when the original bridge was built.

Officials based the original cost estimates on those of other major U.S. bridge projects over the past 12 years, doing so quickly after the collapse, according to an emailed statement from Maryland Transportation Authority spokesperson Brad Tanner.

“The uncertainty behind these calculations was disclosed to Congress prior to the bipartisan vote to authorize the 100% cost share,” he said. “The yet unknown impact of the Trump Administration’s tariff and economic policies has injected additional uncertainty into the process, as the cost of raw materials and labor remains constantly in flux.”

“While design is ongoing, the state will continue to make substantial financial commitments and contributions to support the Key Bridge reconstruction — including advancing upfront construction costs; contributing hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance proceeds; and continued pursuit of litigation. We remain committed to pursuing all available options to ensure the Key Bridge is rebuilt with safety, economic vitality, and sound stewardship of taxpayer dollars being top of mind," Tanner continued.

Repealing the money would require Congressional action, and there is recent precedent for it, as when lawmakers voted to repeal billions of dollars appropriated for National Public Radio and PBS over what they called unbalanced news coverage.

But a bridge, especially one critical for an international port and that plays an outsized role for regional truck traffic, is different. Duffy even sort of said it himself Wednesday.

“Infrastructure is bipartisan. I get along with Democrats and Republicans,” he said. “There’s a lot of stuff we fight about, but infrastructure isn’t one of them.”

The Maryland Transportation Authority, which owns and operates toll facilities across the state, including the former Key Bridge, is somewhat immune to the state’s larger budget concerns because it pays for its own projects through toll revenues. But if left to fend for itself, taking on the cost of a new bridge likely would blow up its budget, adding yet another big expense to cash-strapped Maryland.

This article was updated with a comment from the Maryland Department of Transportation.