As the November elections draw nearer, the Biden administration is pushing to promote the progress agencies have made in announcing, awarding and distributing funds under the five-year, $1.2-trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Since the IIJA's November 2021 enactment, the administration has announced about $454 billion in IIJA funds, which have supported more than 56,000 projects and funding awards, according to a White House fact sheet released on May 13, The release coincides with the start of Infrastructure Week.
Here are some highlights in key IIJA categories:
Roads and Bridges: This is the IIJA's largest sector, totaling $300 billion over the measure’s five-year span. To date, 13,000 bridge repair projects have gotten under way and improvements have begun on more than 257,000 miles of roads.
Rail: Of the IIJA’s $66 billion for passenger rail, the administration so far has announced $16.4 billion for 25 passenger rail projects on the Northeast Corridor plus $8.2 billion for 10 non-Northeast Corridor projects,
Airports: Of the $25 billion in the IIJA for airport infrastructure, $15 billion has been announced so far, including $3 billion for terminal projects, according to the White House.
Ports and Waterways: The infrastructure measure contains a total of $17 billion. The White House says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Dept. of Transportation have funded more than 450 port and waterway projects so far. It did not provide total funding announced or distributed.
Clean Water and Drinking Water: The IIJA has $50 billion for this category. The administration says that to date the Environmental Protection Agency has provided funding for more than 1,400 drinking water and wastewater treatment projects. Recent EPA announcements include $3 billion for replacing lead pipes. It also has funded about 500 projects for water recycling, storage, conservation and desalination to improve resilience against drought in the Western U.S.
Clean Energy and Electric Grid: Of the $62 billion in the IIJA for this sector, the Dept. of Energy so far has announced $5.6 billion for more than 60 projects.
Superfund and Brownfields: Of the $5 billion for this sector in the IIJA, EPA has applied all of that funding after announcing in February the last $1-billion round of allocations.
The White House also noted progress made in rolling out funding from other key legislation, including the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act.
Echoing President Biden's criticism of former President Donald Trump's infrastructure accomplishments, a White House official said in a statement, "While Infrastructure Week became an empty punchline under his predecessor, President Biden is delivering an “Infrastructure Decade" that will benefit communities for generations to come."
High-Profile Projects
The White House also spotlighted individual projects. Perhaps the largest is a new Hudson River Tunnel, now under construction, to connect New Jersey and New York City. So far the administration has committed $11 billion to the megaproject.
Another high-profile IIJA-funded transportation project is the Brightline West High-Speed Rail Project linking Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga., Calif., for which the Dept. of Transportation recently awarded up to $3 billion.
The administration also cited the Fargo-Moorhead flood diversion project in Minnesota and North Dakota, which has received $437 million from the IIJA to protect the cities of Fargo, N.D., and Moorhead, Minn., from floods along the Red River of the North.
In airport infrastructure, the White House pointed to upgrades completed at Boston Logan International Airport, drawing on $84.5 million from the IIJA.
In the bridge category, officials highlighted the $1.5 billion from the Dept. of Transportation's IIJA total to upgrade the existing Brent Spence Bridge and construct a new one between Cincinnati and Covington, Ky.
