DOT rolls out $5B in bridge infrastructure grants

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Dive Brief:

The Department of Transportation awarded $5 billion in federal funding from the 2021 infrastructure law to fix or replace more than a dozen of the biggest and most economically critical bridges around the country, officials announced Wednesday.
A $1.4 billion grant to replace an Interstate 5 bridge between Oregon and Washington is the largest of the 13 projects receiving funding in the latest round.
“These bridges affect whole regions and ultimately impact the entire U.S. economy,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on a press call Tuesday afternoon. “What they all have in common is that their condition means they need major urgent investment to help keep people safe and to keep our supply chains running smoothly.”

By the numbers

$1.4 billion - Oregon

Replacement of two aging bridges that carry Interstate 5 over the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington. This project also received a $600 million Mega grant earlier this year.

$993 million - Massachusetts

Replacement of the Sagamore Bridge in Cape Cod. This project also received a $372 million Mega grant earlier this year.

$550 million - Alabama

Replacement of an Interstate 10 bridge in Mobile that serves as a critical freight corridor.

$500 million - Pennsylvania

Replacement of an Interstate 83 South bridge in Harrisburg that carries more than 125,000 vehicles a day over the Susquehanna River.

$394 million - Tennessee

Replacement of an Interstate 55 bridge over the Mississippi River between Memphis, Tennessee, and West Memphis, Arkansas, that is a commuting and commerce route for Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi.

$251 million - Rhode Island

Improvements to 15 bridges critical to Providence's economy.

$242 million - North Carolina

Replacement of a bridge carrying U.S. 17/U.S. 76/U.S. 421 across the Cape Fear River between New Hanover and Brunswick counties.

$175 million - South Carolina

Replacement of four Interstate 95 bridges over Lake Marion in Santee in Orangeburg County.

$124 million - Oklahoma

Replacement of an Interstate 70 bridge over Lake Texoma to improve freight flow and traffic safety, and add a pedestrian and bicycle crossing.

$101 million - Florida

Replacement of 11 Venetian Causeway bridges in Miami.

$88 million - Ohio

Replacement of the historic Market Street Bridge connecting Steubenville, Ohio, and East Steubenville, West Virginia, which is at the end of its useful life.

$72 million - New Mexico

Replacement of two bridges over the Nogal Canyon in Socorro County that are part of a national corridor.

$63 million - Kansas

Replacement of the 18th Street Bridge, a major Kansas City river crossing.

Source: Department of Transportation

Dive Insight:

The bridge funding announcement, part of the DOT’s infrastructure tour ahead of the presidential election this fall, seeks to address some of the biggest sources of trucking and supply chain bottlenecks.

Buttigieg will travel Wednesday to Pennsylvania for a news conference announcing the I-83 South bridge funding at one of the region’s most notorious highway interchanges.

“It's in poor condition, and it creates bottlenecks that makes drivers less safe,” Buttigieg said. “It costs people time. It makes it more expensive to ship goods through this critical corridor.”

The Pennsylvania bridge replacement is expected to lead to 117 fewer crashes per year and save truck drivers 66 million hours over its lifetime, he said.

The bridge grant funding program received 33 applications from states requesting a combined $10 billion, according to the department. Some of the funded projects, including the Cape Cod project in Massachusetts, will require federal funding commitments in 2025 and 2026, Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt said on the press call.

Another $525 million in bridge funding is expected to be awarded through the Bridge Investment Program later this year, according to the DOT.

The grants do not include money for the replacement of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, which President Joe Biden’s budget intends to fully fund through a federal Emergency Relief Program, Bhatt said.