President Biden and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced that $1.2 billion is being awarded from the new National Infrastructure Project Assistance (Mega) discretionary grant program for nine projects across the country.
The goal of these projects are to create jobs, grow the economy, strengthen supply chains, improve mobility, and create a safer transportation system.
“From the Hoover Dam to the Golden Gate Bridge, some infrastructure projects are so large and complex that they defy traditional funding systems—and so significant that they become iconic parts of the American landscape,” said Pete Buttigieg. “After receiving over one hundred applications, we are proud to fund these nine infrastructure megaprojects across the country to create jobs, strengthen our supply chains, expand our economy, and renew America’s built landscape.”
The Mega grant program, created by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), funds projects that are too large or complex for traditional funding programs, which include highway, bridge, freight, port, passenger rail, and public transportation projects.
The Mega program will invest a total of $5 billion through 2026 to help rebuild the United States’ infrastructure. For this application cycle specifically, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) received applications requesting approximately $30 billion in funding, far exceeding the $1 billion of funding available in 2022.
This years projects include:
- The Brent Spence Bridge project in Ohio and Kentucky will receive $250 million. The funding will support critical improvements to the Brent Spence Bridge and fund the construction of a new bridge alongside the existing bridge to relieve congestion and improve travel time reliability.
- The Hudson Yards Concrete Casing, Section 3 in New York will receive $292 million. The funding will help fund the final section of concrete casing intended to preserve future right-of-way for the new Hudson River Tunnel and lay the groundwork for the much-anticipated Gateway Project.
- The Roosevelt Boulevard Multimodal Project in Pennsylvania will receive $78 million. The project aims to will make improvements along approximately 12 miles of the Boulevard to improve safety and accessibility for all users, including pedestrians and cyclists.
- The I-10 Calcasieu River Bridge in Louisiana will receive $150 million. The bridge will be replaced with a new structure, seeing as the old bridge is deteriorating.
- The Alligator river Bridge in North Carolina will receive $110. This award will support construction of a modern high-rise fixed-span bridge that will improve travel times and safety, for cars, bikes, and pedestrians, along a primary east-west route in northeastern North Carolina between I-95 and the Outer Banks.
- The I-10 Freight Corridor in Mississippi will receive $60 million. The funding will widen I-10 from four to six lanes from just west of Diamondhead, and strengthen access to locations across the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and major southern cities.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Source: USDOT
