The Biden Administration today unveiled its much-anticipated $2 trillion infrastructure and jobs plan, dubbed The American Jobs Plan.
This plan includes $621 billion dedicated to transportation infrastructure and resilience. A fact sheet released by The White House says the plan will modernize 20,000 miles of highways and roadways, will fix the 10 most economically significant bridges in the country in need of reconstruction, and will repair the worst 10,000 smaller bridges in the nation.
"Decades of declining public investment has left our roads, bridges, rail, and transit systems in poor condition, with a trillion-dollar backlog of needed repairs," The White House said in a fact sheet. "More than 35,000 people die in traffic crashes on U.S. roads each year, and millions more are seriously and often permanently injured."
The White House says The American Jobs Plan ensures that transportation infrastructure investments will produce good-quality jobs with strong labor standards, will use more sustainable and innovative materials, and will mitigate socioeconomic disparities.
What's in the Biden Infrastructure Plan?
President Biden is proposing $115 billion to modernize the bridges, highways, roads, and main streets that are in most critical need of repair. This plan includes $20 billion to improve road safety for all users, including increases to existing safety programs and a new Safe Streets for All program to fund state and local “vision zero” plans and other improvements to reduce crashes and fatalities, especially for cyclists and pedestrians.
The plan would also invest $85 billion to modernize existing public transit and help agencies expand their systems to meet rider demand. This investment will double federal funding for public transit, spend down the repair backlog, and bring bus, bus rapid transit, and rail service to communities and neighborhoods across the country. It would also invest $80 billion to address Amtrak’s repair backlog and enhance grant and loan programs that support passenger and freight rail.
Another notable component of the plan includes a $174 billion investment in electric vehicles (EVs), which includes replacing 50,000 diesel transit vehicles. In addition, the plan includes $20 billion for a new program that will reconnect neighborhoods cut off by historic investments and ensure new projects "increase opportunity, advance racial equity and environmental justice, and promote affordable access."
The White House says if the entire American Jobs Plan is passed alongside President Biden’s Made in America corporate tax plan, "it will be fully paid for within the next 15 years and reduce deficits in the years after."
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SOURCE: The White House
