A wide variety of bridge repair projects across the country are expected to be launched beginning next year should the Build America 250 Act secure final Congressional approval.
The measure, which three weeks ago made it out of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, provides upwards of $580 billion for transportation infrastructure projects. By design, the legislation will give more autonomy to the states and counties in taking on building and upgrading projects.
The amount of money that will go for bridge repair and modernization work is now pegged at $9 billion, up from $5.4 billion offered by the last federal transportation reauthorization.
Noting that counties currently maintain around 38% of all of the nation’s bridges, which amounts to just under 230,000 bridges, the National Association of Counties in a new report notes that the Build America 250 Act promises to “establish a 95% cost-share for locally owned bridge projects, helping rural counties afford the required funding to complete those projects.”
In real terms, this means a very significant 272% increase in federal funding for county bridge projects.
Another report, this one put out by the Brookings Institute, says the “formula program to invest in bridges is an ingenious way to improve critical infrastructure and test innovative delivery methods.”
Not only will this method “let policymakers see how efficiently localities can obligate federal funds,” adds the Brookings document, the potential success of the method “could have a transformative impact on future surface bills.”
In reference to the coming 250th anniversary of U.S. Declaration of Independence, the Build America 250 Act “reduces costs and delays in building,” remarked Missouri Republican Sam Graves, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
A press release issued from Graves’ office also said that what is a five-year transportation reauthorization bill amounts to the “largest ever investment in America’s bridges,” while also providing funding for passenger rail investment and rail safety.
Prospects for the bill’s final passage in the full House and Senate, however, are not clear, with a vote expected to be taken in both chambers in the next several months.
June 4, 2026
By Garry Boulard
