Government allots $9.7B to upgrade nation’s bridges

Posted By: Steve Barnes December 20, 2023

ConDig (20-Dec–23) The US government has earmarked $9.7 billion in multi-year federal funding to revamp the nation’s bridges.

The federal funds, which were initially announced in September, are designed to improve the nation’s bridges through the competitive Bridge Investment Program’s “Planning” and “Bridge Project” categories, which fund bridge planning, repair and replacement projects under $100 million.

The Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which established the Bridge Investment Program, invests a total of $40 billion over five years to help ensure that some of the nation’s most important bridges remain safe and operational, meet current and future traveler needs, support local economies and strengthen supply chains.

“When a bridge closes, it costs Americans time and money, disrupts supply chains across the region, and sometimes cuts off entire communities from vital resources,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. 

“Thanks to President Biden, we are making the largest investment in America’s bridges since the construction of the Interstate system, and these grants will help repair bridges in communities of all sizes, so we can get people and goods safely to where they need to be.”

The Bridge Investment Program Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is soliciting applications for the following categories of projects:

  • “Planning” grants for planning, feasibility analyses, and revenue forecasting associated with the development of a project; and,
  • “Bridge Project” grants for bridge replacement, rehabilitation, preservation, and protection projects with total eligible costs of $100 million or less.

In accordance with the BIL, a grant application for a project located in a state that has not received one large bridge project grant or two bridge project grants from previous rounds of awards will be given priority over grant recipients that have already received funding.

In Fiscal Year 2022, the Bridge Investment Program invested $2.4 billion in the planning and construction of 37 bridges in 29 states across the country.