The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will invest more than $5 billion for grants to repair and reconstruct 13 major bridges across 16 states.
The 13 bridges, which the administration said are “nationally significant,” will receive grants from the Large Bridge Project, as part of the Federal Highway Administration’s Bridge Investment Program funded by President Biden’s infrastructure law.
“For too long America let bridges fall into disrepair, which left people less safe, disrupted our supply chains, and cost people time and money — but now the Biden-Harris Administration is changing that with the biggest investment in our bridges since the Eisenhower era,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.
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State transportation departments will receive the funding to fix the 13 bridges, including Oregon’s for a project to fix bridges that connect Portland to Vancouver, Wash., Massachusetts for Sagamore Bridge replacement in Cape Cod, and Alabama for the I-10 Mobile River Bridge replacement.
The tranche does not include funds for the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, which partially collapsed in March, because funding for that project comes through emergency relief, officials said.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania will receive a grant for I-83 bridge replacement in Harrisburg, Pa.; Tennessee will receive a grant to replace the I-55 bridge over the Mississippi River; and Rhode Island will receive grants for 15 bridges along I-95.
The president’s infrastructure law created the Bridge Investment Program, which invests $40 billion over five years to ensure bridges are safe and operational and meet current and future needs. More than 10,200 bridges are being rebuilt, repaired, or modernized since the infrastructure law was signed in November 2021, according to the administration.
The other grants announced Wednesday will be sent to North Carolina to replace the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge in Wilmington; to South Carolina to replace the Lake Marion Bridge on I-95 in Santee; and to Oklahoma to replace the Roosevelt Memorial Bridge Replacement Project on US-70.
Also, funds are going to Florida to replace Miami’s Venetian Causeway Bridge, West Virginia to replace the historic Market Street Bridge in West Virginia and Ohio, New Mexico to replace two bridges on I-25, and Kansas to replace the 18th Street Bridge in Kansas City.