*** NOTE: I write these posts weeks in advance. When I wrote it, I had no idea of what would happen this morning. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by the tragedy ****
The former guy talked so much about Infrastructure Week and did so little that it became a joke. President Biden has done the opposite — bringing about historic legislation to fix American’s crumbling roads, airports and bridges. This is a win for everyone, supporting safety, green initiatives, new jobs, higher productivity, and a better quality of life.
Bridges, in particular, are lifelines for communities. They connect families to their loved ones, students to school, workers to their jobs, goods to stores, and patients to healthcare. In emergencies, they link critical access and evacuation routes. And along with their long-term economic benefits, bridge projects also create well-paying construction jobs. That is why the Biden-Harris Administration has hit the ground running to rebuild bridges across the country.
After only a year in office, the Biden administration was already allocating large sums from the new infrastructure bill to meet urgent bridge needs, as the Washington Post reported:
$27 billion in new money aimed at fixing the nation’s aging bridges
The Biden administration urged states on Friday to get to work bringing thousands of aging bridges up to par, while improving safety and uncorking bottlenecks, with the help of $27.5 billion in new federal aid.
The White House announced the allocation of money to mark 60 days since President Biden signed the $1 trillion infrastructure bill. The bridge program is one of the largest new sources of federal spending in the package and one that encapsulates its bipartisan appeal.
The money is aimed not only at large projects, but also smaller bridges off main highways that in the past might not have received federal dollars. For those projects, the federal government will cover the full cost, rather than requiring the 20 percent match states generally must provide. About $800 million in the program also is set aside for projects in tribal areas.
Specific stories from around the country give some idea of the project’s vast scope, as in this 2021 article from AP.
Biden touts infrastructure bill at snowy, rusty bridge in NH
President Joe Biden set out Tuesday on a national tour to persuade everyday Americans of the benefits of his big, just-signed infrastructure plan. First stop: a snowy, rusty bridge in New Hampshire, a state that gave him no love in last year’s presidential primaries.
Walking across the rural New Hampshire bridge that’s been tagged a priority for repairs since 2014, Biden framed the infrastructure law in direct and human terms. He said it would have a meaningful impact here, from efficient everyday transportation to keeping emergency routes open.
The infrastructure bill overall contains $110 billion to repair aging highways, bridges and roads. According to the White House, 173,000 total miles of U.S. highways and major roads and 45,000 bridges are in poor condition. The law has almost $40 billion for bridges, the single largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the national highway system, according to the Biden administration.
From Forbes, here’s a 2022 story from Pennsylvania that underlines the urgency of the bridge effort:
Biden Vows to Fix Aging Bridges at Site of Pittsburgh Bridge That Collapsed Hours before His Arrival
President Joe Biden on Friday vowed to repair aging bridges around the country during an unscheduled visit to the site of a two-lane bridge in Pittsburgh that collapsed hours before he arrived in the city to tout his infrastructure projects.
Biden said on the scene, “We’re going to fix them all,” referring to old bridges, adding, "We’re sending the money," NBC News reported.
The collapsed Fern Hollow Bridge was built in 1970, and is one of 80 spans in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, that were rated in poor condition in a
federal survey.
In 2023, Biden marked the fulfilment of his pledge to fix an Ohio River bridge that has been “functionally obsolete” since the 1990s.
In Kentucky visit, Biden highlights bipartisanship, new funding for aging Brent Spence Bridge
President Joe Biden visited a dilapidated bridge connecting Ohio and Kentucky to talk up the virtues of bipartisanship with Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday while at the same time blasting House Republicans for an “embarrassing” scene of disarray that has kept the chamber from organizing itself.
Biden's appearance with McConnell was meant to mark a renewed push by his administration to highlight the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law and to appeal to newly empowered Republicans to find additional areas of cooperation in the new Congress.
The infrastructure law provided $1 trillion that Biden's administration is doling out for roads and bridges, broadband networks and water projects across America. The money will be critical not just for the communities getting the help but to the Democratic president’s political theory that voters are hungry for bipartisanship that delivers tangible results.
CBS News recently discussed the replacement of an old, heavily used bridge in Cape Cod that is notorious for traffic backups.
Sagamore Bridge replacement project gets hundreds of millions from Biden administration
President Joe Biden's administration announced it is allocating hundreds of millions of dollars to replace one of two aging Cape Cod bridges.
A statement from the White House says the Sagamore Bridge is among 37 major transportation projects nationwide that will share a nearly $5 billion infrastructure investment.
"That’s $372 million to replace the 80-year-old Sagamore Bridge, one of the Cape Cod Bridges that spans the Cape Cod Canal and provides the only vehicle access to the Massachusetts mainland from Cape Cod," the Biden administration said.
Traffic backs up for miles around the bridges during the busy summer travel season, and the narrow lanes do not meet current highway standards.
At the same time, Minnesota’s Star Tribune foregrounded the importance of long-delayed bridge rebuilds to two major North Central port cities.
Biden visits Superior, Duluth to trumpet bridge money
Two years after he last visited the Blatnik Bridge to tout his $1 trillion infrastructure package, President Joe Biden returned Thursday to the aging span set to undergo a massive rebuild thanks to a $1 billion federal grant.
The high-traffic connector between Duluth and Superior is one of 37 projects of similar size and scope that Biden announced $5 billion worth of funding for during his visit. His "Investing in America" agenda has led to new legislation meant to create jobs and rebuild old infrastructure — and the key over-water artery between the port cities is among the projects that will benefit.
"For decades, people talked about replacing this bridge. but it never got done, until today," Biden told a crowd at Superior's Earth Rider Brewery, a local favorite with a view of the 63-year-old bridge.
Is there still more work to be done? 100%! Lots more work. But Biden has done so much more than many people guessed could be done. He deserves a lot of credit. AND he deserves to be re-elected.
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These posts are written by Goodnewsroundup (Goodie),
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As with all good things, it takes a village.