The 38 projects that received grants on Friday are in 42 states and Washington, D.C., and range in scale from $7.5 million to harden a remote grid in Alaska to $160 million for utility Georgia Power to deploy advanced power cables and “dynamic line rating” technologies to expand the capacity of its transmission network.
The grants, funded by President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will support 60 modernization projects.
This round of funding will focus on replacing old, leak-prone pipes which pose safety hazards, inflate energy costs, and contribute to environmental harm.
$86.6 million to the Mississippi Department of Transportation for the Improvements to the I-20/I-55 Freight Corridor project in Jackson, Mississippi.
$66.5 million to the Florida Department of Transportation for the U.S. 1/SR 5 Long Key Bridge Replacement project in Monroe County, Florida. The project will replace the current Long Key Bridge built in 1982.
$472.3 million to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority for the North Station Renovation and Draw 1 Bridge Replacement project in Boston, Massachusetts.
$68.6 million to the Iowa Department of Transportation for the Southwest Mixmaster Interchange Reconstruction project in Des Moines, Iowa. The project will reconstruct the existing I-35/80/235 interchange, which was constructed in the 1960s and is considered one of the most dangerous in the state.
Marvel at the mundanity of these headlines. We are just 3 years into the era of rebuilding American infrastructure, and it already seems so routine.
The Long Key Bridge is only 42 years old. Instead of trying to wring 8 more years out of this extremely important bridge, it’s getting replaced ASAP. That’s a lot more proactive than I would’ve thought possible.
We’ll be well into the next bridge’s 75-year lifespan before Biden gets the credit he deserves for bringing America out of the broke-and-busted infrastructure era.
At a glance, this package looks a little broader (more diverse) than the ones that came to my attention in the past. That’s a good thing.
My impression of the past packages:
A state needs
– an oil pipeline,
– some new bridges and
– a dredging project for its shoreline.
Instead the WH provided:
– Money to solar panel companies
– Money to windmill companies
– Money to companies to build powerlines for that electricity
– Money to EV companies to install EV charging stations
So yeah. Based only on my broad impression, I’d say this is an improvement.
Now tell me again why the Federal gov’t is doing this instead of the states.
Oh, look election year spending to make the economy look better than it is. Just like they cleaned up the homeless in Cal. If the puppet is elected the economy will back to how it been the rest of this admins time. but worse as they will double down on bad regulations…
Yes, they put in charging EV charging stations in my local grocery store parking lot. Now there’s just less parking and few use the chargers. Meanwhile the roads are lumpy and getting worse…
It’s like they reserved parking for the wealthy tesla drivers…
“In listening to the concerns and needs of the communities we serve, our customers have been clear: they support a transition to cleaner energy but want to protect reliability and affordability. That’s why Duke Energy is making every effort to harness federal funding available through the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to reduce customer costs.”
using taxpayer money to reduce bills to its customers. bad idea?
Your car repair isn’t as important as upgrading the aging power grid.
It’s kinda too late to complain like this after neglecting every facet of American infrastructure for half a century. Stuff needs to be fixed instead of crumbling for a third generation.
