Biden administration announces $1.8B for infrastructure projects

The Biden administration on Wednesday announced it has awarded $1.8 billion in grants for 148 infrastructure projects across the U.S.

The grants come from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program, which was expanded due to funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The total amount of grants for these types of projects from the Biden administration reached 550 total with the announcement.

The infrastructure law, which is one of President Biden’s top legislative accomplishments, added $1.5 billion a year to the already-appropriated funds for RAISE project grants.

“After decades of underinvestment, the condition of America’s infrastructure is now finally getting better instead of worse — and today we proudly announce our support for 148 more projects in communities of every size across the country,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.

Buttigieg announced in June 2023 that the Biden administration had awarded more than $2.2 billion from the RAISE program to 162 infrastructure projects. The announcement on Wednesday comes just months ahead of the November election, and Biden and surrogates are expected to tout the funding for projects in both red states and blue states on the trail.

The Transportation Department received over $13 billion in requests for the funding this year and noted that the demand has outpaced available funds.

The $1.8 billion awarded will fund $12 million for a project to restore about 45 miles of the Alaska Highway impacted by thawing permafrost and other climate change-related degradation and over $23.5 million for a project to replace bus fleets in Maine with electric buses.

It will also fund $25 million to reconstruct a California rail crossing, nearly $23 million to develop roads in Florida, nearly $25 million to construct a foot bring in Pennsylvania, and over $21.2 million to reconstruct a wharf in Puerto Rico.

Additionally, it will fund over $20.7 million for a project in Michigan to connect communities and over $12 million in North Carolina to improve intersections along bus routes, among other projects.