The U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, was in Connecticut Wednesday to showcase the $158 million investment to the Gold Star Memorial Bridge from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to help with its rehabilitation.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced this week Connecticut’s project to repair the northbound structure of the bridge.
The FHWA said the $158 million was part of the first round of large bridge grants from the IIJA's competitive Bridge Investment Program.
The addition of this money means the federal government will now cover 90% of the larger $408 million bridge project.
It said the grant to the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) will fund improvements to the bridge, which is part of the Interstate 95 corridor and is a vital connection for people and goods traveling between New York and New England.
"As everybody here knows, the bridge is not in good shape. It’s about to turn 80 years old, parts of it has been given a rating of poor," Buttigieg said at a news conference.
In addition to addressing congestion and safety issues for communities in southeastern Connecticut, they said improvements to the bridge, which carries five lanes of traffic and 42,600 vehicles per day, will address delays in the movement of freight that currently raise costs for American families.
“This grant is part of historic investments made possible by the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which will help repair or rebuild 10 of the most economically significant bridges in the country along with thousands of bridges across the country,” the FHWA said.
“Safe, modern bridges ensure that first responders can get to calls more quickly, shipments reach businesses on time, and drivers can get to where they need to go,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “The Biden-Harris Administration is proud to award this historic funding to modernize large bridges that are not only pillars of our economy, but also iconic symbols of their states’ past and future.”
Large bridge project grants under the Bridge Investment Program are available for bridges with total eligible project costs over $100 million, with minimum grant awards of $50 million, and maximum grant awards of 50 percent of the total eligible project costs, the FHWA said. As part of the selection process for this first round of grants, priority consideration was given to projects ready to proceed to construction, as well as those that require pre-construction funding and would benefit from a multi-year grant agreement.
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Source: WFSB.com
