Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, highlighted the importance of the new bridge funding programs in the bipartisan Investment Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA) at an EPW hearing.
In a discussion with Senator Cramer, Cass County Engineer Jason Benson mentioned the county expects to replace over 41 major bridge structures in the next 20 years. The IIJA included new funding opportunities, namely the Bridge Formula Program and Bridge Investment Program, to help states and localities improve their bridge infrastructure. The Bridge Replacement, Rehabilitation, Preservation, Protection, and Construction Program (Bridge Formula Program) is the single largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the interstate highway system. It will distribute $5.5 billion annually through FY 2026 to state Departments of Transportation to repair bridges and each state is guaranteed a minimum annual distribution of $45 million. The Bridge Investment Program is focused on the repair, rehabilitation, or replacement of existing bridges in the National Bridge Inventory.
Senator Cramer asked the panel of witnesses to share their expertise on local transportation challenges and experience with the implementation of the new bridge programs included in the law.
“Could you elaborate on your experience and advice to others on how to take advantage of that program? And then helping advise us how we can tweak it, simplify—or for that matter how the [Department of Transportation] might simplify it—or allow more maximization of the bridge program? One thing that we have heard is as tough as our roads are, our bridges create a very significant challenge and safety risk,” said Senator Cramer.
“Cass County and the counties that border Minnesota in North Dakota have about half of the county bridges in the state because of the winding, meandering rivers that flow into the Red River. Because of that I’ve got 550 bridges, of which about half are on the federal system of 20 feet or greater. It’s a massive infrastructure demand,” said Benson. “Many of those bridges were put in in the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s, for the old single axle grain truck, not the semi-truck and large equipment they need to carry today. So to be able to use this program to bundle bridges, it really takes it upon counties to look at bridges differently. Having a five-year, ten-year plan on how we can bundle these into one project to submit through the program. And if we can get more of a bridge bundle to actually complete six, eight, ten bridges in a county. Even for North Dakota to be able to have five or ten million dollars, that’s a lot of bridges that can be completed.”
“What is valuable to realize is that connectivity issue. If you can’t get to the next road, what do you do? You can travel on a poor road; you can travel on a bad gravel road; but if that bridge has failed, you’re not going to get there. The focus on bridges in this bill is really valuable… I do think that we will continue to need to focus on bridges, whether they are rural or municipal, because I think those are our biggest threat to our infrastructure and making sure we keep that connectivity to get from point A to B,” responded Converse County Commissioner Jim Willox.
“In a municipal environment, losing a bridge isolates the community and that’s profound. [It can have] a huge impact on their quality of life and their life opportunities,” added City of Philadelphia Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Deputy Managing Director Michael Carrol.