President Obama came to Cincinnati ten years ago to try and sell an infrastructure bill that would include money for a new bridge on I-75 connecting Cincinnati and Covington. He could not get the expensive package through the Congress but now the man who served as Obama's Vice President will make his own plea.
President Joe Biden is unveiling a 2 trillion dollar infrastructure bill that will include money to fix what the White House calls the ten most economically significant bridges in America plus it will repair the worst 10 thousand smaller bridges.
The White house has not released yet a list of the bridges but it has to be assumed that the Brent Spence Bridge will make the list. Here is an excerpt from the American Jobs Plan describing the work that will be done if Congress agrees:
- Repair American roads and bridges. One in five miles, or 173,000 total miles, of our highways and major roads are in poor condition, as well as 45,000 bridges. Delays caused by traffic congestion alone cost over $160 billion per year, and motorists are forced to pay over $1,000 every year in wasted time and fuel. The President is proposing a total increase of $115 billion to modernize the bridges, highways, roads, and main streets that are in most critical need of repair. This includes funding to improve air quality, limit greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce congestion. His plan will modernize 20,000 miles of highways, roads, and main streets, not only “fixing them first” but “fixing them right,” with safety, resilience, and all users in mind. It will fix the most economically significant large bridges in the country in need of reconstruction, and it will repair the worst 10,000 smaller bridges, including bridges that provide critical connections to rural and tribal communities. The plan includes $20 billion to improve road safety for all users, including increases to existing safety programs and a new Safe Streets for All program to fund state and local “vision zero” plans and other improvements to reduce crashes and fatalities, especially for cyclists and pedestrians.
The White House says the American Jobs Plan will also expand rail into new communities, that could mean daily train service connecting Cincinnati-Columbus and Cleveland.