Whaddya think?

The great American wit Will Rogers is quoted as having said, "Everyone is ignorant, only on different subjects."

To me, he made a great point, and you can look at it upside down and say everyone knows something no one else knows. Take a room and fill it with, I don't know, 500 people chosen randomly. Out of that group, you would probably find at least one person who could tell you how to re-tile your bathroom, cook a gourmet meal, or drive a race car. It's often surprising to find you're talking to someone who set out to sea as a cabin boy at 12, and now runs a chain of seafood restaurants.

However, this expertise is limited. You won't find a score of people who run chains of fish eateries.  And that brings up this point.

As you may know, The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, a 1.6 mile bridge that crossed the lower Patapsco River and outer Baltimore Harbor/Port, connecting southeastern Baltimore County to Anne Arundel County, was knocked down in 2024 by a container vessel. The bridge was built in the 1970s and opened in 1977 to relieve the congestion in the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel.

The collapse. Horribly, six men who were working on re-paving the bridge surface were killed in the accident.

That congestion didn't just go away when the Bridge did, and the process of rebuilding is just getting underway. Initial estimates said the replacement bridge could open in 2028, but that does not seem possible now. The latest estimate is for sometime in 2030, and at a much higher price than initial estimates forecast.

I'm not counting on getting to AA County quickly anytime soon. But, here's what interests me. TV stations like to have these poll questions going on, like "How do you think the Orioles will do this year?" and people text in their answers and feel like they are part of the story, I don't know.

But today, I heard one of the stations asking the public "When do you think the new Key Bridge will be finished?"  And even if you're an expert on bridge building, and on governmental appropriations for funding these jumbo projects, there are so many variables at work here, one can only reply, "How the hell do I know?"

But I will say, if you are a bridge-building expert with a deep knowledge of how to turn on the fiscal sluice gates, please get in touch with our Governor Moore. He needs your help!