Eight states and the District of Columbia are each receiving part of $300 million in federal funding for bridge projects, the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced earlier this month.
The funding, from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Bridge Investment Program, will "restore connections for communities of all sizes across America," DOT Sec. Pete Buttigieg tweeted April 14.
"When a bridge is weight limited or worse, closed for repairs, it can isolate families, add time to commutes & delay first responders during an emergency," Buttigieg stated in the tweet.
The $300 million in grants will support nine small and medium-size bridge repair, rehabilitation or replacement projects, in both urban and rural areas, the DOJ reported in its April 13 news release. The projects include the Palm Avenue/Interstate 805 Bridge in San Diego, Calif.; the Lafayette Bascule Bridge in Bay City, Mich.; the Castleton-on-Hudson Bridge in Albany County, New York; rural bridge improvements in Oklahoma and South Carolina; the Burgard Bridge in St. Johns, Oregon, the US-59 San Antonio River Bridge in rural Texas; the John Nolen Drive Bridges in Madison, Wisc.; and the Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge in Washington, D.C.
These projects are expected to save millions of dollars through reduced maintenance costs, shorter travel time, and increased safety while benefiting farmers, ranchers, energy workers, and communities heavily reliant on the bridges for transportation.
“Bridges tie together communities across our country – large and small,” FHWA Administrator Shailen Bhatt said in the news release.
“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," Bhatt said. "That is an investment in our country’s economic strength and in the safety and long-term growth of the communities nearby.”
