Buttigieg Touts Results of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
Recently, U.S. DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg hailed some of the achievements of the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – also known as the Infrastructure Improvement and Jobs Act (IIJA) – which is nearing its second anniversary of enactment. Billed as a “once in a generation investment in the nation’s infrastructure,” the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law dedicated $1.2 trillion to infrastructure projects across multiple sectors. It was signed into law by President Joe Biden on November 15, 2021.
Secretary Buttigieg said at a White House press conference that there are 31,000 construction projects across the country currently receiving funding from the law, ranging from simple infrastructure repairs to major transit transformations, according to an article in Spectrum News NY1.
Buttigieg touted specific accomplishments of the law including the recent completion of the Lehigh Valley Airport in Pennsylvania, saying it was “the first time I was able to be at a ribbon cutting on a project that benefited from those dollars and the president’s infrastructure plan.”
Buttigieg also cited California, which is currently receiving federal funding from the law to expand its metro system in Southern California and seismically retrofit the Golden Gate Bridge in the northern part of the state. In Wisconsin,
Secretary Buttigieg spoke about the planned replacement of the Wisconsin River Bridge with two bridges that will allow for traffic to flow in both directions.
Secretary Buttigieg emphasized that the benefits and job creation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is happening now but will also continue for the next several years.
“Some of these projects are simple road improvements that can be done in one construction season,” Buttigieg said. While others “even at the fastest possible pace, will take years and years to complete.”
“But that was exactly the point,” he said. “This wasn’t about a one-off, one-year project. This is creating a decade of infrastructure improvements that we will then be relying on and using and benefiting from for the rest of our lives.”
Read the full article in Spectrum News NY1.