Last November, President Biden visited a troubled bridge in New Hampshire one day after he signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—and promised that help was on the way.
This week, Biden officials are giving new details of what that help will look like.
Inside Tuesday's announcement of $60 billion in new funding for roadways from the Administration, there is another big slice set aside for bridges. Policymakers are putting $5.5 billion into Department of Transportation’s Bridge Formula Program for fiscal year 2023 (which begins in November). The money matches 2022 funding levels, but represents a 391% jump compared to 2021 — before the law’s effects kicked in.
The 2,702-page law that Biden signed in November includes a total of $40 billion for bridges in the coming years in what the administration is calling “the single largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the interstate highway system.”
But will it be enough?
The effort come as both the White House and experts continue to raise alarm bells about America’s bridge problem. There are 45,000 bridges around the country in poor condition according to the White House and a 2021 report found that 178 million trips take place across “structurally deficient” bridges every day.
“This work matters in people's everyday lives,” White House Senior Advisor and Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu said Tuesday during the announcement. He noted that when bridges are closed—or not at full capacity—it impacts everyone from families to workers to first responders. It also fuels inflation by creating another crimp in the supply chain.
Tuesday’s news was just the most recent announcement of how money from the law will be spent which is set to fund a range of needs in the coming years from airport terminals to rural broadband networks to ports and more.
‘Going to be a gigantic change’
The new money will be focused on bridges that still carry traffic—but have fallen into disrepair. As President Biden explained last year during his trip, the Pemigewasset River Bridge in New Hampshire was opened 82 years ago and “used to be able to carry 40-ton trucks [but] now the bridge is down to 20-ton restrictions.”
A 2021 infrastructure report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers put a spotlight on the dire problem: Of the more than 617,000 bridges in the U.S., 46,154 of them - or 7.5% - are classified as structurally deficient.
The nation also got a reminder of the bridge problem this January when the Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh collapsed just hours before Biden was scheduled to visit the area for, an infrastructure event. The President ended up visiting the site of the bridge collapse and said the new law would tackle the problem and “this is going to be a gigantic change.”
But reports also underline how much additional investment is likely going to be needed beyond the 2021 law. Civil engineers estimate that $125 billion needed to repair America's bridge repair backlog.
As part of Wednesday’s announcement, the Biden officials touted that the new money from the law during the current fiscal year had already supported repairs on over 2,400 bridges from Illinois to Alabama.
And later this week, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is set to give more details about which bridge projects across the country will be next. “We know that the work that's taking place right now and the improvements and infrastructure right now will benefit the American economy for generations,” Buttigieg said Tuesday.
Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit.
