The United States Department of Transportation this week awarded more than $98 million to two projects in Florida, benefiting efforts to revamp a bridge for the Kennedy Space Center and to increase capacity at PortMiami’s Seaboard Marine Terminal.
The vast majority of the funds will go to the bridge project, which will replace the Cape Canaveral Spaceport Indian River Bridge with two high-level bridges connecting Kennedy Space Center to the mainland. In all, $90 million from the Infrastructure For Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant program will benefit that project.
“The INFRA Grant Award to replace the aging SR 405 bridge over the Indian River Lagoon took a lot of teamwork, and it demonstrates the U.S. Department of Transportation’s confidence in the State to execute,” said Space Florida President and CEO Frank DiBello.“We are excited for the opportunity to showcase Space Florida’s capabilities of meeting the needs of the commercial sector. We can now look forward to a new, more robust transportation infrastructure to support Florida’s dominant position in the commercial space marketplace.”
The remainder of the funding — $8,046,741 — will go toward the rehabilitation of the Seaboard Marine Terminal to bolster its attractiveness as a trade and commerce hub.
“As Florida’s population continues to increase, we must work to ensure that our transportation infrastructure remains robust and up to date for our citizens and visitors,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said.“Our ports and spaceports are essential to our future economic success. This federal investment will further strengthen PortMiami, Cape Canaveral and our space industry, as well as our transportation infrastructure system as a whole.”