Rural counties win on bridge repair in omnibus bill - Entrepreneur Generations

The federal spending bill signed last week included an extra $75 million for bridge repairs compared to 2018, which one policy expert called the "biggest identifiable win for rural counties," Dave Nyczepir reports for Route Fifty.

The American Society of Civil Engineers says that 9.1 percent of U.S. bridges—about 56,000— are structurally deficient, and estimates that $123 billion is needed for repairs and maintenance of bridges nationwide, Nyczepir reports.

Bridges are one of the top priorities this year for the National Association of Counties, according to Jessa Jennings, the organization's associate legislative director for transportation and infrastructure. "I have no doubt that this does not address the backlog," Jennings told Nyczepir. "I’m sure we need more funding, but with the state of the bridges and roads as it is … an increase for the bridge program is definitely a big win for us."

Rural counties lost out some in the omnibus bill too, since only $900 million was approved for BUILD grants, down from $1.5 billion last year. Seventy percent of BUILD grants in 2018 went to rural counties for infrastructure projects, Nyczepir reports.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2twU6eR Rural counties win on bridge repair in omnibus bill - Entrepreneur Generations

Posted by Entrepreneur Generations

Tweet