More than $4.2B in projects identified by US DOT

The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) has identified $4.2 billion worth of construction projects it will help fund via the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed three years ago.

In its Oct. 21 announcement, the DOT says 44 projects have been selected in a new round of funding, including projects that involve “constructing major bridges, expanding port capacity [and]  redesigning interchanges.”

"With this latest round of awards, dozens of major and much-needed projects – projects that are often difficult to fund through other means – are getting the long-awaited investments they need to move forward,” says U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Since the passage of the 2021 bill, funding from two programs tied to the bill has totaled nearly $12.8 billion, says the DOT, including some 85 highway improvement projects, 35 large bridge projects, 20 rail projects and what the department considers 18 large port projects.

Selected projects the latest round include more than $470 million to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority for a draw bridge replacement project in Boston. The 92-year-old bridge to be replaced “functions as the primary portal for over 1,100 passenger trains each week into [Boston’s] North Station,” according to the DOT.

The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PhilaPort) will receive more than $215 million to expand capacity at the Southport waterfront port terminal in that region. The DOT calls PhilaPort “the fastest-growing port on the East Coast.”

In Monroe County, Michigan, on the border with Ohio, some $195 million in funds will go toward replacing what DOT calls “the deteriorating River Raisin Bridge” on Interstate 75 (I-75). The new crossing, says the agency, will “accommodate estimated future traffic, update and replace six existing structures [and] reconstruct over two miles of roadway to improve safety and the efficiency of freight movement.”

Other significant projects announced by DOT include: more than $85 million to the Mississippi Department of Transportation to upgrade and repair bridges along I-20 and I-55 in that state; more than $68 million to the Iowa Department of Transportation to reconstruct the existing I-35/I-80/I-235 interchange, which was built in the 1960s to handle 1,000 vehicles per hour but now carries an estimated 1,500 vehicles per hour, says DOT; and $66 million to the Florida Department of Transportation to replace the two-and-a-half-mile Long Key Bridge in the Florida Keys region.