In Bentonville Arkansas last week for the boys’ annual mountain bike trip…30 years and counting…recovering from a long one Thursday meant no GNFriday.
So here we go…
Driving up I-81 last week I encountered LOTS of construction – bridge replacements, repaving, new guard rails, overpass improvements…got me wondering how much impact the Inflation Reduction Act is having on public roads.
A Shipload. As in almost $200 billion to do desperately needed maintenance in every state.
Plus new factories – and lots of high-paying jobs – in rural North Carolina, along with:
- 13,000 bridge repair projects – including the notorious Brent Spence Bridge between Ohio and Kentucky
- 257,000 miles of roads resurfaced and/or improved
- more than 450 port and waterway projects
- funding for more than 1,400 drinking water and wastewater treatment projects
- $3 billion for replacing lead pipes.
- 500 projects for water recycling, storage, conservation and desalination to improve resilience against drought in the Western U.S.
What’s different about the IRA and other new Federal funding is much has been driven by local governments – towns, cities and counties applying for grants to make big improvements. This from TIME:
The Biden Administration and the 117th Congress did something radical: Together, they decided to invest in the ideas and aspirations coming from Main Streets across America, rather than from inside the Beltway.
What does this mean for you.
Safer roads and fewer accidents.
More construction jobs.
More demand for materials and equipment.
