INVESTING IN AMERICA: U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Breaks Ground on the Long Bridge Project in Arlington, Virginia
With major funding from the Biden-Harris infrastructure package, the passenger rail project will create tens of thousands of jobs and improve train frequency and reliability
Arlington, VA – Yesterday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg delivered remarks during the groundbreaking of the Long Bridge project, part of the Transforming Rail in Virginia program that is expected to create more than 36,000 jobs.
The project was awarded nearly $730 million through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and will increase rail capacity in Northern Virginia and D.C. by creating a four-track corridor and making nearly two miles of rail improvements over land and the Potomac River. Additionally, USDOT also awarded a $20 million RAISE grant to build a dedicated bicycle and pedestrian bridge that will span the Potomac River between Washington, D.C. and Arlington, providing a safer, more direct route for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Below the full transcript of Secretary Buttigieg’s remarks:
Good afternoon and thank you, Richard, for that excellent introduction. Thank you for what you do and all of your fellow union of painters and allied trades members and all of those who are working on our infrastructure. It's a big part of why we're here and we thank you for it.
And by the way, for anybody who thinks because you know what it's like to paint a room you know what it's like to paint a bridge, I would invite you to have the experience that Richard's union colleagues patiently walked me through, learning how to use a shot blaster, and see if you can stand upright while you do it.
It is an incredibly demanding and highly skilled job as you know well. And we’re glad that there are professionals doing that.
I want to thank all of the leaders who are here including those who spoke. I'm so glad to be here with Senator Kaine and Senator Warner who were partners in shaping this bipartisan infrastructure package. Likewise Representative Connolly and Representative Spanberger as well as Don Beyer, who can’t be here but I know is passionate about this.
I want to make very clear that this project is happening because of your congressional delegation. In more ways than one. First of all, their advocacy for this project. Specifically, because as was mentioned even though that pot of funding was there, it was far from certain that this much of it would come here unless that case was made.
But also, the simple fact that we have this infrastructure bill. Now we're so used to it. It's like it couldn't have been any other way. As a matter of fact, the political obituary of this infrastructure bill was written half a dozen times by commentators across the river before we finally got it done. So it’s a testament to their support, perseverance, bipartisan hard work, and leadership that we're able to do this. And everybody here is excited about this project ought to be thanking among many others your congressional delegation.
Let me also acknowledge a couple other members who can't be here who were a part of that. Representative Wexton, who has been such a key part through her committee work and her leadership of making sure that we're able to do this.
And Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton who is on the T&I Committee very passionate about this work as well.
And when they told me that our proceedings would begin with a DJ – I have to admit I had the wrong idea. Thank you for your work on this and for keeping your eye on that 2030 vision.
Before turning to the matter at hand, I do want to take a moment just to acknowledge the ongoing relief and recovery response taking place across the Southeast in the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton and knowing that that has affected Virginia among other states.
Already the U.S. Department of Transportation has directed $134 million in emergency funding to North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee for some immediate needs for getting critical routes back up and running. We’re directing another $3 million through our Thriving Communities program to help communities impacted by those disasters.
And these are just the earliest steps. We're going to continue working at the President's direction, across all federal agencies to make sure that impacted communities get the resources that they need. And I plan to visit some of the affected areas later this week to get a first-hand understanding.
I just want to emphasize too in my conversations with the governors and local leaders in the various states that have been impacted, you would never know who belonged to which party. And I very much hope that spirit will prevail when Congress comes back to attend to the disaster funding needs that are going to emerge.
So, with that I want to talk about the good news at hand. I have had the great pleasure of celebrating groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings and other events now in literally every state in the Union. But it's rare that I get to mark one in a venue that's occasionally part of my morning routine.
And back when I got it in my head to do a triathlon, I remember swimming here and then hitting the trail and thinking, well we're right by the bridge. I'm just going to run right on over there, only to realize that while it might be very close as the crow flies, you got to go down to Crystal City, pick up the magnificent Mount Vernon Trail, get back up to DC in order to enjoy running on the mall.
And while the bike and the pedestrian part of this scope is a little separate from the grant we're celebrating, I'm still very glad that it's part of the overall vision for this project. It's going to be a great quality of life benefit and safety benefit around here.
Anyway, all of which is to say, I'm very excited to be able to celebrate with you it's something a little bit closer to headquarters.
Now on Long Bridge today, freight and passenger rail, that share the tracks that cross this bridge at a time when passenger ridership is on the rise and when capacity is virtually maxed out at peak hours are depending on a structure that is more than 100 years old.
And we know that something like this is happening in a lot of parts of the United States. But rarely in the United States will you find a single piece of infrastructure, on which so many people depend every single day.
A more modern structure and updated capacity you're going to be a vital to sustain that level of traffic and we're going to have a lot more coming. Supporting the economic growth that's happening in this region requires us to make investments that should have been made a long time ago.
And now, thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure package, that investment is actually happening.
The funding which has long been needed is in hand. Key planning milestones have been met. And so today on behalf of the Biden-Harris Administration I have the privilege of joining you to officially celebrate the groundbreaking of the new Long Bridge.
It’s an exciting day for passenger rail in Virginia. With much needed repairs to the existing bridge and a new two track passenger rail bridge between Virginia and DC. And not a moment too soon.
With the partnership of the members of Congress here today, the VPRA and the work of so many of my colleagues in the Federal Railroad Administration, led by Amit Bose, our Administrator. Thanks for your work on this.
We are making good on President Biden and Vice President Harris' promise. And I just want to stress that what that means is we're not just connecting the East Coast but really taking a major step toward America having a better connected, more robust passenger rail system.
We're putting an end to the years of Americans saying why can't we have nice things in passenger rail like people in so many other countries do.
It's happening across the country. Earlier this year I was in Las Vegas where we broke ground on a project that will be the first true high-speed rail operating on American soil connecting to Southern California.
I was in Raleigh to break ground on a passenger line that's going to connect to Wake Forest and eventually on up to Richmond. Which means one day, trains starting there could find their way all the way to through these new and improved bridges into DC – after picking up the Senator [Kaine] on his way to come vote.
And next week we're going to be breaking ground on a project that's going to restore service to the Gulf Coast line between Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana since it was suspended 20 years ago as a result of Hurricane Katrina.
Huge things are happening for passenger rail in the United States of America. And that's a huge turnaround from where we were just a little while ago.
As Representative Spanberger mentioned, just four years ago, just before we got here, Infrastructure Week had become a punch line in this town.
There's a lot of talk but no action. And certainly no $729 million in grants to get something like this done. And yet the needs grew and grew from both the deterioration of the older assets and the rise in new demand from the economic growth that you're seeing along that Raleigh to Richmond to DC corridor.
Now at last we are meeting the moment. And we're reinforcing a growing national network of passenger rail. In addition to repairs to the existing Long Bridge and construction of a new bridge, this is also funding that will to critical improvements along the rail corridor between DC and Richmond.
But today isn't just about trains. As Richard reminded us today it is also about jobs. The overall transforming rail in Virginia program alone will create more than 36,000 jobs.
To say nothing of the business investments that are going to grow as a result of these enhancements going into service. And that is going to add to some staggering totals created just in the last few years.
Since the Biden-Harris Administration took office more than 16 million new jobs have been created, including 1.7 million manufacturing and construction jobs, with construction employment at the highest level recorded since the data was first collected in 1939.
So, the point is this isn't just a bridge. It’s an investment in our way of life, in our economy, in our future. We are building safe, accessible, resilient, transportation that is going to stand the test of time with your help. And as we do that, we're making good on the idea that Americans ought to have just as good or better passenger rail than people who live anywhere else in the world.
My hope and expectation – I see our youngest attendee back there, how old are they?
[Audience member: Three weeks.]
Three weeks, congratulations! So by the time that infant is old enough to ask us what we were doing in the early 2020s to set up this country for success, they won't know a country, and my kids who are three right now won't know a country that didn't have high-speed rail and excellent passenger rail and I think that's the legacy we can all be very proud of so thank you for everything you've done to get us here and save me a seat at that ribbon cutting in 2030 please.
Congratulations again, everybody that’s part of this.