WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has released $59.9 billion in Fiscal Year 2023 apportionments for 12 programs to support investment in critical infrastructure across the nation.
This includes roads, bridges and tunnels, carbon emission reduction and safety improvements.
The funds come from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
According to a news release, the funds will be funneled directly to all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico “to help them continue the important work of rebuilding our roads and bridges and making our transportation system more efficient.”
“America’s roads and bridges are the vital arteries of our transportation system, connecting people and goods across the country,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “Because of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, today we are sending historic levels of funding to every state to help modernize the roads and bridges Americans rely on every day.”
Over the last year, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding has been used to help address needs in every state in the nation, including:
- The Bridge Formula Program, which has supported repairs on more than 2,400 bridges, including the Interstate 270 bridge replacement over the Mississippi River in Illinois, the Dare County bridge replacement in North Carolina and the Interstate 65 bridge replacement over the Sepulga River in Alabama.
- The Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT) Formula Program, which has funded more than $200 million of projects in 21 states, including improvements to the Interstate 20 Wateree River Bridge in South Carolina to upgrade critical elements of the bridge, along with raising the elevation of Louisiana Highway 1 (LA 1) to make it more resilient to flooding during extreme weather events across the Gulf of Mexico.
- The Highway Safety Improvement Program, which has supported improvements on more than 5,300 projects, including a total of 155 roundabout projects throughout the country. More than 100 pedestrian and bicyclist safety improvement projects throughout Oregon have also been completed. The implementation of 30 rectangular rapid flashing beacons in Arlington County, Virginia, to help pedestrians safely cross the street, along with road safety audits along rural corridors in Tennessee to identify safety improvements needed to reduce fatalities and serious injuries, have also been installed.
- The National Highway Performance Program, which has funded more than 6,000 projects, including replacing a dangerous intersection on U.S. 50 in Pueblo, Colorado, with an interchange that improves safety and connectivity for bikers, pedestrians, motorists and freight flows; resurfacing 13 miles of Interstate 57 in Illinois and improving a rest area that includes truck parking; and constructs a new bridge, passing lanes and two-way left-turn lanes on California State Route 46.
The $59.9 billion in funding for Fiscal Year 2023 is the second year of funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and represents an increase of $15.4 billion in formula programs as compared to Fiscal Year 2021, the last fiscal year before the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was implemented.
This Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding is distributed annually by FHWA based on congressionally mandated formulas.
“These historic investments in American infrastructure give States the flexibility they need to determine how to allocate funds in order to replace deficient bridges, improve safety for all road users, and reduce carbon emissions by improving transportation infrastructure for communities throughout each state,” said Acting Federal Highway Administrator Stephanie Pollack. “This funding we are announcing today will allow States to continue the important work of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that will make our infrastructure safer and more efficient for the tens of millions of American families that count on it to get to school, work, and critical medical care every day.”
Federal-aid Highway Program funds are authorized periodically by Congress in multi-year laws to assist the states in providing for construction, reconstruction, and improvement of highways and bridges on eligible federal-aid routes and for other special purpose programs and projects.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law established or continued FHWA programs and authorized funding for those programs from the Highway Trust Fund and General Fund.
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