More than 150 projects to upgrade and repair Wisconsin roads receive federal funding
Wisconsin has received $6.6 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Gov. Tony Evers announced on Aug. 6 that a new round of infrastructure funding received from the federal government will support more than 150 projects to repair and upgrade roads and bridges in Wisconsin.
“I ran for governor promising to fix the darn roads. After improving more than 7,400 miles of roads these past five years, today I’m excited we’re going to be able to continue building upon this important work with the help of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” Evers said in a statement.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation will distribute over $200 million in funding, which was made possible by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, to local communities. Craig Thompson, secretary of the department, said in a release that nearly every county in the state would receive help through the Surface Transportation Program, which assists local governments in applying for federal funds for road, highway, and bridge projects.
President Joe Biden signed the infrastructure law in November 2021. According to data from the White House, Wisconsin had received $6.6 billion in funding for over 510 projects before the latest round was announced.
In addition to road- and bridge-related projects, infrastructure money has been used for public transportation, water infrastructure, electric vehicle charging stations, pollution cleanup, ports, and airports. The law also cut high-speed internet costs for an estimated 427,000 Wisconsin households.
Several major projects have received infrastructure funding.
The Blatnik Bridge, which connects Superior, Wisconsin, and Duluth, Minnesota, over the St. Louis Bay on I-535, is being replaced. It is the second-largest bridge in Minnesota, and it is estimated that 33,021 cars travel between the states via the bridge each day.
Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee received a grant financed by the infrastructure law that is being used to replace the roof on Concourse D of the facility.
While the infrastructure law received bipartisan support in Congress, only Democrats in Wisconsin’s congressional delegation supported it.
“Wisconsin’s roads and bridges need to be fixed. With the bipartisan infrastructure legislation we will create jobs and put people to work rebuilding,” Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin posted on social media in August 2021, when the law was being debated.
The following day, Baldwin voted for the bill. Her Republican counterpart, Sen. Ron Johnson, voted against it. Following his vote, Johnson said in a statement, “This is just the first step in the Democrats’ plan to pass their $5 trillion-plus radical tax-and-spend agenda, and I simply couldn’t help facilitate it.”
