Funding for roads and bridges
The legislation calls for investing $110 billion for roads, bridges and major infrastructure projects, according to an updated fact sheet from the White House. That’s significantly less than the $159 billion Biden initially requested in the American Jobs Plan.
Included is $40 billion for bridge repair, replacement and rehabilitation. The White House says it would be the single largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the interstate highway system, which started in the 1950s.
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The deal also contains $16 billion for major projects that would be too large or complex for traditional funding programs, according to the White House.
Some 20%, or 173,000 miles, of the nation’s highways and major roads are in poor condition, as are 45,000 bridges, according to the White House.
The investments would focus on climate change mitigation, resilience, equity and safety for all users, including cyclists and pedestrians.
Also included in the package is $11 billion for transportation safety, including a program to help states and localities reduce crashes and fatalities, especially of cyclists and pedestrians, according to the White House. It would direct funding to highway, truck, and pipelines and hazardous materials safety efforts.
Money for transit and rail
The package would provide $39 billion to modernize public transit, according to the bill text. That’s less than the $49 billion contained in an earlier bipartisan deal and the $85 billion that Biden initially wanted to invest in modernizing transit systems and helping them expand to meet rider demand.
The funds would repair and upgrade existing infrastructure, make stations accessible to all users, bring transit service to new communities and modernize rail and bus fleets, including replacing thousands of vehicles with zero-emission models, according to the White House.
The deal would also invest $66 billion in passenger and freight rail, according to the bill text. The funds would eliminate Amtrak’s maintenance backlog, modernize the Northeast Corridor line and bring rail service to areas outside the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, according to the White House. Included in the package is $12 billion in partnership grants for intercity rail service, including high-speed rail.
The funding is less than the $80 billion Biden originally wanted to send to Amtrak, which he relied on for decades to get home to Delaware from Washington.
It would be the largest federal investment in public transit in history and in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak 50 years ago, according to the White House.