VIDEO: U.S. Transportation Secretary Buttigieg Announces 37 Mega and INFRA Grants for Projects Nationwide

Secretary Buttigieg joins leaders and community members to celebrate a $142 million grant headed to Pittsburgh
Watch the address here: https://youtu.be/kUQ_XXRNaK0?si=HEZB5rLL076CoN-b
WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joined President Biden in announcing $4.9 billion in funding for 37 infrastructure projects across the country, made possible by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and a part of the Investing in America agenda.
On January 26th, Secretary Buttigieg celebrated Pittsburgh’s $142 million grant that will prevent flooding on I-376 that locals call “the bathtub.” The federal funding will also improve a key bus route and replace 10 bridges.
The grants came out of the Mega and INFRA grant programs, which were designed to fund some of the nation’s largest and most challenging infrastructure projects.
The full transcript of Secretary Buttigieg’s remarks are below:
Thanks very much. First of all, thank you Brandon for the introduction and for the work that you do everyday. I'm so excited to be with our partners in organized labor, including ATU, and so thankful for what our transit operators do every single day.
I want to recognize Mayor Swartzwelder of the borough of Swissvale, Catherine Kellerman, CEO of PRT. Thank you for helping to host us today. Rich Fitzgerald, Fitz, I remember when this whole bill was a twinkle in our eye, and now it's delivering funding just a few show years after we were selling the idea of an infrastructure law here in Pittsburgh and around the country. I want to recognize Mayor Gainey of Pittsburgh, that the job of mayor has only become more demanding and more challenging since I wore the title. And we view the measure of our success as whether we make life a little bit easier for the mayors of the world.
I'm so appreciative of being here with County Executive Enamorado. Congratulations on taking on this role. You're off to a great start. Looking forward to working with you. I want to thank Lieutenant Governor Davis for joining us and recognize Governor Shapiro who I had a great conversation with yesterday. When your state leadership understands the importance of infrastructure as your governor and lieutenant governor do, a whole new world of things become possible with us at the federal level. So thank you for your continued leadership.
And I certainly want to recognize your extraordinary delegation.Representative Deluzio, who by the way, as we approach the one year anniversary of the Norfolk Southern derailment not far from here in East Palestine, any member of Congress who was quick to talk about that issue a year ago should be quick to follow his lead and sign on to the Railway Safety Act before we reach that one year mark and actually do something about this.
But Representative Deluzio and Representative Lee, you have two members of the House who I can guarantee you do not hesitate to get my attention repeatedly if necessary anytime there is an opportunity to make this community better off. So it's nice to be able to make those good news calls. And we're proud of the support that we have with them.
And likewise, Senator Fetterman is somebody who is a relentless advocate for Pennsylvania, for the communities here, for the need to get them funding, and he is an ally in change for President Biden and this administration. And likewise, I know that Senator Casey couldn't be here today, but he and I have talked about this project extensively, and we wouldn't be here if it weren't for the support that we got from him and from this delegation to get this infrastructure package done in the first place.
It's been a great day already for us here in Pittsburgh. I was just in Carnegie Mellon earlier where they're building a new university transportation center with funding from our department to enhance transportation safety and bring together experts from around the US.
I'm reminded of previous visits here, including back when I was mayor, bringing a delegation to Pittsburgh to study the way that you had taken this community, this river city, this whole region, uh, and gotten it onto a new footing after everything that people had been through here economically. A story that resonated with us in my industrial Midwestern hometown.
And I remember making one of my first visits as Secretary right here. We went to the Monongahela Incline. We went on a boat down the river and looked at the McKees Rocks Bridge as part of what was then called President Biden's American Jobs Plan, making the case that we ought to have an infrastructure bill in this country. And it's remarkable today, as we've gotten so used to it, that it's easy to forget how hard it was to get it done now that the bill is so popular that even the people who voted against it are trying to take credit for it. It is important to remember that it took a huge amount of lifting to get that legislation done.
And now we are seeing the results. Now we actually have the funding to get this done. The dirt is flying. Workers are getting jobs on these projects. I was in Allentown not long ago at a ribbon cutting. One of the first times we've seen a project actually completed that was funded with this infrastructure legislation. It's gonna mean better airport checkpoints and traveling through that airport more quickly.
There are some 40,000 infrastructure projects happening around the United States right now and more in the pipeline. Some of them are the work of a single construction season. We'll be cutting ribbons on them by fall. Others are attending to what I call the cathedrals of our infrastructure. Efforts that will take years and create jobs during those years until they get done. And we are breaking records when it comes to creating new jobs. Making sure that Americans from all backgrounds have the training and support that they need to build new skills and support their families. I saw an example of that at the airport. Where there is a childcare center to make sure that childcare is not a barrier for anyone who could be an outstanding construction worker to have a chance to work on that project. We need more where that came from.
The rebirth of American leadership means so much to me as a child of the industrial Midwest. Because I saw in my own hometown what it meant to lose jobs when industry went away and then what it meant to rebuild them. Partly through attention to a resource like a great river. Partly through attention to the economic power of educational and medical institutions. Largely through the power of a workforce that even when it lost jobs never lost its work ethic and was ready to grow when the economic winds came back, thanks to the importance of infrastructure.
Through President Biden's $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan, this is what we are now finally following through on. This week, President Biden announced that we are investing $4.9 billion for 37 transformational infrastructure projects, many of them so large and so complex they would have been impossible to build without a dedicated source of funding. Through our grant programs, one called MEGA and the other called INFRA, we are creating hundreds of thousands of new, good-paying American jobs, jobs for people with and without college degrees that can build generational wealth and drive economic development in cities, towns and rural areas.
They're implementing safety improvements that are saving lives. They're improving freight mobility, getting goods to where they need to go, keeping costs down across the supply chain, contributing to the fight against inflation and adding new truck parking so that drivers have a safe place to rest when they need it. And they're reducing emissions from freight and passenger vehicles using sustainable materials and improving climate resiliency so that the air you breathe is cleaner and the places you call home can withstand impacts from the climate crisis that we are seeing more and more around the country and around the world.
That's why we are so thrilled to be here with you today to announce $142 million for the Eastern Pittsburgh Multimodal Corridor Project. It's going to make life easier, better and safer for 100,000 some people who travel through these systems daily. I want you to know that this is a very competitive process. Even though we've got historic funding, between these two programs we got hundreds of applications seeking tens of billions of dollars of funding, far exceeding the amount that we had. So the projects that made the cut, the ones that we selected, are the best of the best.
And it's a tribute to the local leadership here in this region, including Pittsburgh Regional Transit, including PennDOT who we worked with so closely to deal with that I-95 bridge collapse and who it's nice to be with celebrating good news as well as working together in tough times. The Southwest Pennsylvania Commission, all of whom worked together on this application. Your champions on Capitol Hill, like those who are at my side right now. Community advocacy groups, organized labor, and so many others who believed in this project.
The I-376 Parkway East Corridor is one of the oldest urban interstates in the US. And frankly, it's showing its age. It is badly congested for about 12 hours every day. Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway is a lifeline to so many, but it's been 40 years since it opened. Over a dozen routes use the busway and it's long overdue for safer, cleaner, faster upgrades. Whole stretches of business are walled off to people who don't own cars.
And then there's the matter of the famous bathtub. I've got to tell you, so in our household I've got two kids, twins, son and a daughter, two and a half years old. And I happen to be in charge of bath time. So, I'm surprised to find myself in anything but a pro-bathtub position, given the role that bath time plays in our toddler's routines. But this is not that kind of bathtub. As I don't have to tell you, flooding along this stretch of I-376 can go longer than 600 yards. Six football fields end to end causing detours, dangerous crashes and weaker infrastructure overall. The bathtub is not just an obstacle to overcome, it's a warning sign. It's a warning sign that it is long past time to upgrade the entire corridor to be more resilient against the climate crisis. And I'm proud that plans for the Eastern Pennsylvania Multimodal Corridor answer that call. So, with funding from the Biden-Harris administration, we're making it possible to take care of the bathtub and reduce local flooding-related road closures and detours, which means safer, faster trips for about 44,000 drivers every day.
We're going to be able to fix 10 bridges along that east busway in need of repair and add five new electric buses to the mix, which will increase emissions, increase safety, and help avoid delays.
And we're going to be able to build nearly a mile of sidewalk near transit stops, which means easier access to local businesses or doctor's appointments, whether you've got a car or not. And to anybody who thinks things like sidewalks or bike infrastructure are just ornamental or nice to have, I want to stress they are an investment in safety as we combat the crisis of roadway deaths in this country.
Bottom line, we're going to see more good union jobs. We're going to see easier, safer, more affordable access to the hubs of downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland, especially for the communities surrounding the corridor who depend on reliable transit close to home. And this of course is part of a bigger story. And that story is about making sure we take care of the basics so that people can go about everyday life a little easier. The projects that we're celebrating are happening at a scale that requires collaboration across every kind of government, labor, environmental leaders, engineers, industry, communities. And we're getting it done across the country.
Just to give you a few other examples, we're replacing the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington in a project that's been talked about for decades, it will help withstand the impact of earthquakes and address a serious choke point for commuters.
We're building a new terminal at the Port of New Orleans with a 1700-foot wharf that will accommodate vessels up to twice the size of current limits with economic impacts so great from that New Orleans area shipping that you'll feel that economic benefit all the way here in Pittsburgh whether you see it or not.
And we're replacing the mile-and-a-half long Blatnik Bridge that connects Duluth, Minnesota to Superior, Wisconsin that President Biden was celebrating in person yesterday. This opportunity is something that we've been waiting for our entire lives and then some.
And what I love about this moment is we're actually able to deliver. But, now for the hard part, we must deliver. And I know that the very same allies that we turn to help get President Biden's infrastructure package passed in Congress will be there to help make sure that projects like this are a success. When we do, we're going to be so proud of the work that we did together. So, thank you for everything that you've done to bring us to this point and keep up the great work. Congratulations.
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