The Biden administration is investing more than $600 million in rebuilding 22 bridges across the country.
On October 31, the Department of Transportation announced that as part of the White House’s largest investment in American bridges since the construction of the interstate highway system, it would be providing $635 million for “small and medium-sized bridge projects in both rural and urban areas.”
The 22 bridges receiving funding from the Biden administration are part of a bipartisan infrastructure bill’s Bridge Investment Program. So far, the White House has provided $40 billion for more than 11,000 bridges across the country, the DOT said.
Several bridges receiving funding are part of tribal land. North Dakota is set to receive a $9.4 million grant for the Safe and Resilient Passages at Standing Rock project, which the DOT said would “replace two deteriorating bridges located along ND Highway 1806 in Morton and Sioux Counties.”
The department added: “These bridges serve as essential lifelines for communities in Morton and Sioux Counties, providing vital connections for emergency services and economic opportunities. Both bridges are located just north of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, home to 15,000 of the 15,568 total enrolled members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.”
The bridges along the ND Highway 1806 are near to where protests around the Dakota Access Pipeline raged in 2016 and 2017.
Native Americans in Oklahoma are also receiving bridge funding, as the Absentee-Shawnee Tribe is set to receive more than $13 million for the Porter Avenue bridge, which is 87 years old.
In Arizona, I-40 Window Rock and Lupton Traffic Interchange Enhancement project are set to receive funding, as they are critical bridges for connecting Window Rock, the capital of the Navajo Nation, to freights and transportation.
Paul Sancya/Associated Press
Bridges receiving investment in this latest round of funding are also in New York, New Jersey, Alaska and Maine, among other states. One bridge even stretches across Arkansas and Mississippi. U.S. Route 49 goes across the Mississippi River between Helena, Arkansas, and Lula, Mississippi.
Maine received the most funding from the DOT for its bridges, with two grant requests totaling $132,676,036.
“This funding will make our roadways safer and more resilient by addressing bridges that are crucial to Maine’s infrastructure,” Maine Senator Susan Collins said in a statement.
Collins added: “Upgrading these routes will ensure that vital travel corridors remain accessible for residents, businesses, and commercial transport alike.”
Maine received funding to rebuild 12 bridges as part of its I-95 Accessibility Improvements Minimizing Heavy-Truck Impacts project and I-395 Bridge Bundle project. Per a news release from Maine’s Department of Transportation: “Investments like these are critical to supporting economic opportunity in [northern and eastern] markets as well as those in eastern Canada.”
Maine Representative Jared Golden told Newsweek: “I negotiated and helped pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law because I knew it’d deliver colossal investments for Mainers. That’s exactly what it’s done, and I’m especially proud to have helped get this latest batch of funding across the finish line. With these grants, families and businesses will be able to access the region quicker and more safely for years to come.”
In Alaska, the Ghiglione Bridge in Denali National Park received $13,395,509 from the DOT. It is vital for connecting tourists to the national park every year.
The DOT has been busy providing grants in the past month, as it recently gave out $4.2 billion to infrastructure projects across the country, as part of its National Infrastructure Project Assistance grant program and Infrastructure for Rebuilding America program.
These funding projects went toward various infrastructure needs, and 42 percent of the $4.2 billion worth of funding went to disadvantaged communities, following through on President Joe Biden‘s Justice40 Initiative. The initiative pledges to ensure that disadvantaged communities receive 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal investments in areas such as climate and housing.
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