Biden will speak about efforts under his bipartisan infrastructure law to repair the nation’s roads, bridges and waterways from Wisconsin.
According to a White House fact sheet shared with reporters Tuesday evening, more than 33,000 vehicles traverse the bridge, first erected in 1961, each day. Due to the bridge’s deteriorating condition, local authorities have instituted a load restriction, setting a maximum weight of 40 tons and prohibiting passage of large trucks and other heavy vehicles.
In his remarks, Biden is expected to tout funding from his signature infrastructure law, including $4.8 billion for Minnesota and $5.4 billion for Wisconsin. Both states will use some of that funding to repair the Blatnik Bridge. According to administration estimates, Wisconsin has 979 bridges in poor condition, while Minnesota has 661.
“I’m announcing that this year we will start fixing over 65,000 miles of highway and 1,500 bridges in disrepair,” Biden said Tuesday. “We’re done talking about infrastructure weeks. We’re now going to talk about an infrastructure decade.”
The President’s remarks Wednesday are the latest in a series of events the administration is holding to highlight infrastructure investments, including a trip to Ohio last month to unveil Great Lakes funding and a December announcement on funding for port infrastructure and development.
