Harris to close out ‘Invest in America’ tour by announcing $300M in bridge repair funding

By Donald Judd, CNN

The Biden administration will announce nearly $300 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to repair and replace bridges across eight states and the District of Columbia Thursday, closing out its three week “Invest in America” tour highlighting legislative achievements under President Joe Biden.

Vice President Kamala Harris will make the announcement at the Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge, which connects Washington, DC, to Northern Virginia and will receive $72 million in funding for repairs, the White House said. According to a fact sheet shared with CNN, the bridge serves over 88,000 vehicles per day.

In addition, administration officials, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu, will fan out across the country to highlight bridge projects in San Diego; Bay City, Michigan; Albany, New York; Northwest Oklahoma; Portland, Oregon; Northwest South Carolina; San Antonio; and Madison, Wisconsin.

The funding is the latest in a series of projects aimed at preserving and repairing the nation’s bridges, including last year’s Bridge Formula Program, which released $11 billion in Department of Transportation funding in 2022 and 2023 to states, tribes, and territories for bridge repairs. It also allocated $2.1 billion in Federal Highway Administration grants to make critical improvements to the Brent Spence Bridge connecting Kentucky and Ohio; the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco; the Gold Star Memorial Bridge in New London, Connecticut; and the Calumet River Bridges in Chicago.

Since Biden signed the infrastructure law in November 2021, an official told reporters Wednesday, states, cities, tribes, and metropolitan planning organizations across the country have begun repairs on over 4,600 of the nation’s bridges.

Thursday’s announcement marks the last stop on the administration’s “Invest in America” tour, which Biden launched last month by touring a semiconductor manufacturing plant in Durham, North Carolina. Per an administration official, 20 representatives from the Biden administration traveled to over 50 cities across 25 states during the tour, highlighting $435 billion in funding for 23,000 infrastructure projects in 4,500 cities and towns across the US.

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CNN’s Jack Forrest contributed to this report.