Today, the U.S. Department of Transportation's (USDOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced approximately $300 million in funding for 9 small and medium-sized bridge projects across the U.S. thanks to the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
“When bridges have to close for repairs—or worse, begin to fail—it can cut off access to an entire community, adding hours to commutes, costing money for local businesses, and delaying first responders from getting to an emergency,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “The grant awards we’re announcing today are helping communities of all sizes modernize their bridges so that school buses, delivery trucks, ambulances, and commuters can get where they need to go quickly and safely.”
The investment will go to the repair, rehabilitation, and replacement of nine bridge projects, including:
- Palm Avenue/Interstate 805 Bridge - $24 million is going to rehabilitate and preserve the 50-year-old Palm Avenue overcrossing bridge San Diego, California.
- Lafayette Bascule Bridge - $73 million is going to the 85-year-old, bascule-style Lafayette Avenue Bridge over the Saginaw River with a new bascule bridge in Michigan.
- Castleton-on-Hudson Bridge - $21 million is going to rehabilitate the Berkshire Spur of the New York Thruway, which connects I-87 in Albany County to the New York State/Massachusetts State line.
- Burgard Bridge - $13.9 million is going to the 93-year-old viaduct over the Union Pacific Railroad in the St. Johns neighborhood of Portland, Oregon.
A full list of projects can be found here.
“Bridges tie together communities across our country – large and small,” said Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt. “Over the next five years, the Bridge Investment Program will help repair, replace, and rehabilitate structures that allow working people to get to their jobs, families to get their kids to school, and truck drivers to get goods to store shelves. That is an investment in our country’s economic strength and in the safety and long-term growth of the communities nearby.”
The Bridge Investment Program is a competitive grant program that will invest $12.5 billion over 5 years to rebuild, repair, and replace small, medium, and large bridges.
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Source: USDOT
