On Thursday, the Biden Administration awarded $830 million in grants to fund 80 projects to strengthen the nation’s infrastructure against the impacts of climate change. The funding aims to improve bridges, roads, transit, ports, and other infrastructure across 37 states.
The funding comes from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
“We have seen far too many examples of transportation infrastructure being shut down or damaged by extreme weather, which is more extreme and more frequent in this time of climate change,” Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said in a call with reporters ahead of the announcement. “America’s infrastructure was not built for the climate that we have today, and the consequences of this are very real and being felt by people in every part of the country."
The grants will take one of four forms. Planning grants totaling $45 million will be issued for 26 projects. Resilience improvement funds totaling $621 million will be granted to 36 recipients to enhance projects. Community resilience and evacuation grants totaling $45 million will go to ten projects. Coastal infrastructure funding totaling $119 million will go to eight projects.
Some of the projects include:
- Cedar Rapids, Iowa to receive $56.4 million to replace the Arc of Justice Bridge;
- The Oglala Sioux Tribe to receive $248,000 for a risk assessment of its transportation infrastructure;
- Philadelphia to receive $14 million to rehabilitate the Bells Mill Road and Valley Green Road bridges;
- The Rhode Island Department of Transportation to receive $750,000 for a coastal management plan.
“Every community in America knows the impacts of climate change and extreme weather, including increasingly frequent heavy rain and flooding events across the country and sea-level rise that is inundating infrastructure in coastal states,” said FHWA Administrator Shailen Bhatt. “This investment from the Biden-Harris Administration will ensure our infrastructure is built to withstand more frequent and unpredictable extreme weather, which is vitally important for people and businesses that rely on roads and bridges being open to keep our economy moving.”
----------------------------------------------------------
Source: FHWA, Associated Press
