Recently introduced legislation would invest $20 billion over five years to repair more than 47,000 structurally-deficient bridges nationwide.
The bill also would streamline the bridge- repair process with a competitive grant program.
Currently, no federal program specifically funds bridge repair and rehabilitation projects, yet there is a $123.1 billion bridge repair backlog, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Under the America’s Transportation Infrastructure Act, federal investment would be leveraged by state and local contributions. A competitive grant program would include local and rural bridges located off the National Highway System, and projects would be selected using a non-partisan, standardized evaluation process. Tribes, federal land-management agencies, and state and local governments with a transportation function would be eligible to apply.
The act also would streamline repairs of medium and small projects by allowing them to be bundled into a single application; enable large projects to receive multiyear grant agreements; and create jobs by requiring compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act, “Buy America” and other standard requirements for federal-aid highway projects.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee advanced the bill in July. It has the support of numerous transportation industry groups.
U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Garret Graves (R-LA), Darin LaHood (R-IL), and Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) introduced the bill.