Infrastructure in Maryland will get a big boost thanks to $80 million in funding from President Joe Biden’s “Investing in America” agenda.
Biden and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday announced the funding through two major discretionary grant programs, the National Infrastructure Project Assistance (Mega) grant program and the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant program.
The Biden adminsitration will invest a total of $4.9 billion in 37 projects across the U.S., including $80 million for the I-895 Baltimore Harbor Tunnel at Frankfurst Avenue Interchange Improvements Project in Baltimore. The project involves the demolition of the existing toll plaza and installation of electronic tolling at highway speeds via overhead gantries.
Plans also include replacing two aging bridges, reconstructing interchanges along Frankfurst Avenue, rebuilding part of the I-895 mainline, and improving a rail crossing. These changes will reduce maintenance, and congestion-related pollution that harm the communities of Brooklyn and Curtis Bay.
“With this announcement, we are advancing projects so large, complex, and ambitious that they could not get funded under the infrastructure programs that existed prior to the Biden administration,” Buttigieg said in a statement. “Our INFRA and Mega programs are helping build the cathedrals of American infrastructure: truly transformative projects that will change entire regions and our entire country for the better.”
The Mega program was created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It provides about $5 billion in funding through 2026 for projects that are too large and complex to be funded under traditional grant programs.
The INFRA program’s funding was increased by more than 50% by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This program also funds large, transformational infrastructure projects.
“Two projects received awards from both programs, following through on the Department’s commitment to invest in non-traditional, multimodal projects that have been neglected because of complications around how to fund them,” read the press release announcing the funding.
The criteria for being awarded funds through these grants included “safety; state of good repair; economic impacts, freight movements and job creation; climate change, resilience, and the environment; equity, multimodal options and quality of life; and innovation areas such as technology, project delivery, and financing.”
