President Biden has announced the funding of nearly $1.2 billion in Mega Grant Awards for infrastructure projects across the country.
“This is just the beginning,” Biden said during a New York appearance in which he talked about the benefits of the Gateway Hudson Tunnel Project, which is intended to improve travel between New York and New Jersey.
He added that it the project represented the “beginning of finally constructing a 21st century rail system.”
Federal support for the Hudson Tunnel project amounts to a “signature moment for the development,” notes the New York Times, adding that even with the funding out of Washington, “construction is expected to take years.”
The Mega Grant program was made reality via passage in late 2021 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and has so far seen funding ranging from $60 million to $292 million for big bridge and highway projects.
By design, the Mega Grant initiative is designed to fund projects that are both too large as well as too complex for traditional funding programs.
On that list: $250 million for improvements to the Brent Spence Bridge which crosses the Ohio River and connects Cincinnati, Ohio with Covington, Kentucky; and $150 million to replace the Interstate 10 Calcasieu River Bridge in southwestern Louisiana.
According to the Transportation Department, a total of around $5 billion in funding is expected to be awarded between now and 2026 through the Mega Grant program. The Department received more than one hundred applications for the first round of funding.
Projects eligible for funding include everything from bridge and highway construction and upgrades, to port, freight, passenger rail, and public transportation projects.
Those eligible projects must be a part of the National Multimodal Freight Network, the National Highway Freight Network, or the National Highway System.
By Garry Boulard
