TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2023
Earlier this month, the White House recapped its progress in rebuilding the country’s infrastructure, through investments made by President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The Biden Administration’s release states that around $400 billion in funding and over 40,000 projects across 4,500 communities have been announced for the country through the Investing in America agenda.
Additionally, the White House has released updated fact sheets for each state, along with an updated map to show over 40,000 projects and awards to come or now underway.
The Investing in America agenda has reportedly helped award more than $614 billion in private sector manufacturing and clean energy investments in the country.
More specifically, the release references the announcements made for private sector manufacturing in electric vehicle (EV) charging, EV batteries, rail, buses and fiberoptic cable manufacturing from infrastructure investments aligned with Made in America policies.
Current Progress
The release states that because of the bipartisan infrastructure law, the administration has been able to complete a number of projects meant to improve the country’s infrastructure and transportation systems.
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| Saucy, CC, BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons |
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Earlier this month, the White House recapped its progress in rebuilding the country’s infrastructure, through investments made by President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, part of the bipartisan infrastructure law. |
Some of these accomplishments reportedly include:
Key Sector Accomplishments
In the effort to repair or replace the country’s roads and bridges, since its inception, the bipartisan infrastructure law has reportedly invested more than $300 billion.
The release states that another $66 billion has been funded for rail projects, the largest investment in passenger rail since Amtrak’s beginning and a new investment in rail safety.
The president also reportedly announced $16.4 billion for 25 passenger rail projects on the Northeast Corridor to repair aging infrastructure, reduce delays and improve reliability and speed. This included the Hudson River Tunnel in New York, which was given $11 billion.
On the national network, the DOT reportedly made $4.6 billion available through the Federal-State National Program to expand rail service outside of the Northeast Corridor.
Another $1.4 billion was also reportedly allotted for 70 freight and passenger rail projects to improve safety and benefit the supply chain. In addition, earlier this year the DOT announced funding for projects to help with safety and ease of access for 400 at-grade rail crossings in 32 states.
The administration has also given $25 billion to modernize and upgrade airports and air traffic facilities in the country, helping to expand capacity, increase accessibility, and reduce delays.
The Biden Administration has reportedly given almost $2 billion through the Airport Terminal Program to more than 190 airport terminal projects across 48 states, Puerto Rico and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas. Of these awards, eight projects are now complete.
Through the Airport Infrastructure Grants Program, the Biden-Harris Administration has reportedly announced 535 grants for airport pavement projects. Out of those 535 grants, 110 projects are under construction and 18 have already been completed.
Moving forward, the administration states that $17 billion has been given to upgrade the nation’s ports and waterways. The DOT and Army Corps of Engineers have reportedly funded 445 port and waterway projects to aid supply chain reliability, speed up the movement of goods, reduce costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Major projects are already under construction, including at Montgomery Locks and Dam in Pennsylvania and the Soo Locks in Michigan, which received a combined $1.55 billion to expand aging locks on key rivers of national supply chains, helping to keep critical goods flowing.
In the effort to create access to cleaner drinking water, the administration has invested over $50 billion for the largest upgrade to the nation’s water infrastructure in history. This funding reportedly helps to replace the lead service lines in America and close the wastewater gap for 2 million Americans. These funds have reportedly already gone to over 1,200 drinking and wastewater projects across the country.
At the moment, the Environmental Protection Agency has reportedly given over $11 billion in clean water investments from the bipartisan infrastructure law under the State Revolving Funds, and at least 49% of this funding is reportedly meant to go to disadvantaged communities.
The bipartisan infrastructure law reportedly has over $62 billion in funding for the Department of Energy to advance a clean energy future, investing in clean energy demonstration and deployment projects, developing new technologies and modernizing the power grid.
The efforts in clean energy and grid technology also include an investment of over $20 billion to upgrade the nation’s grid, a large part of achieving President Biden’s goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035.
The DOE has reportedly announced over $5.5 billion in funding for more than 60 projects and provided funding to over 100 states, tribes and territories to improve the resilience and reliability of America’s grid. Additionally, the DOE also announced $7 billion to launch seven regional clean hydrogen hubs, producing clean hydrogen for energy intensive sectors like industrial manufacturing and heavy-duty shipping.
The bipartisan infrastructure law has also reportedly allocated over $5 billion for Superfund sites and Brownfield projects to restore the health and economy of communities that have been exposed to legacy pollution. The EPA has already given $2.5 billion of this funding, including awards for 70 Superfund projects that were not previously receiving funding, clearing the longstanding backlog.
The EPA has also reportedly awarded 326 grants to communities to study and clean brownfields and restore the sites to “hubs of economic growth.” In 2023, 76% of Superfund funding reportedly went to communities with potential environmental justice concerns.
With $16 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure law, projects have reportedly begun completing cleanup efforts at orphaned oil and gas wells and abandoned coal mines sites across the country.
The Army Corps of Engineers has also reportedly invested $4.4 billion for 277 of these resilience projects, while FEMA has invested $800 million for 540 projects and the DOT has given almost $4.3 billion to protect roads and bridges from climate impacts.
The administration states that as it continues to work on rebuilding the infrastructure of the entire country, future actions will include:
Tagged categories: Construction; Department of Labor; Department of the Interior; Department of Transportation (DOT); Environmental Controls; Environmental Protection; Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Government; Infrastructure; Infrastructure; Jobs; President Biden; Program/Project Management; Quality Control; U.S. Department of Energy
