Dive Brief:
- The federal Department of Transportation awarded a combined $1.8 billion in grants to highway and other infrastructure projects around the country, according to an announcement last month.
- The projects most relevant to the trucking industry include highway upgrades in Alaska, bridges in multiple areas to remove railway crossings, and the rerouting of commercial motor vehicles near a Mexico border crossing in Arizona.
- “After decades of underinvestment, the condition of America’s infrastructure is now finally getting better instead of worse – and today we proudly announce our support for 148 more projects in communities of every size across the country,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in the announcement.
Dive Insight:
The department announced the awards, part of a competitive, annual program, as the secretary embarks on a tour of construction projects to promote infrastructure investments ahead of the presidential election.
The Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity discretionary grants are going out in addition to separate funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Buttigieg noted in the announcement.
The infrastructure law’s trucking-related funding included projects to add truck parking, combat climate change and create a multimodal freight office within the DOT to improve supply chain resilience.
“We’re funding projects across the country to make roads safer, make it easier for people to move around their community, make transportation infrastructure more resilient to extreme weather, and improve supply chains to keep costs down for consumers,” Buttigieg said.
