U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Announces $5 Billion for Repairing 13 Nationally Significant Large Bridges Across the Country in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

HARRISBURG, PA. - Today, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced $5 billion in Large Bridge Project awards through the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) competitive Bridge Investment Program, part of President Biden's Investing in America agenda.

One of the 13 projects included in this round of Large Bridge Project grants is $500 million for the I-83 South Bridge Replacement Project in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Secretary Buttigieg joined Governor Josh Shapiro, Senator Bob Casey, PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll, and Harrisburg Mayor Wanda Williams to celebrate this transformative investment.

The full transcript of Secretary Buttigieg's remarks is below:

Thank you so much, Drew, and thanks to all of the workers that you represent.

You know, some see concrete and steel; this Administration - and certainly our President - see good-paying jobs, good-paying union jobs in project after project that we're funding across the country.

And no pressure, but we know that the workers of this region, along with Secretary Carroll's team at PennDOT, will be delivering this on-time, on-task, on-budget in a way that will continue the great and proud tradition of getting things built and getting things done here in Pennsylvania.

A big thank you to Senator Casey. As he said, and as several have mentioned, he was a big part of why any of this is possible, because he joined with President Biden, with our Administration, from day one to make the case for a historic infrastructure package. As a matter of fact, one of my first trips as Secretary outside of Washington was to Pittsburgh with Senator Casey when we were working to make the case for this.

And it's all too easy now to imagine that it couldn't have been any other way, but let us remember that this bill was declared impossible and dead by commentators in and around Washington again and again and again. But Senator Casey didn't give up, so many members of your federal delegation didn't give up, and ultimately, we were in fact able to get it done.

I want to thank Mayor Williams. It's great to be with you again, and appreciate your leadership as somebody who was also once a mayor of a proud river city that understood the importance of infrastructure. I often reflect that the job as mayor has only become more difficult and demanding since I proudly wore that title just a few years ago. But I've reflected that it would've been nice back when I was Mayor if the President of the United States was leading a trillion-dollar infrastructure package to help our cities and towns and states build, so hopefully we are a wind at your back in that regard.

And Governor Shapiro has been an indispensable partner and leader in rebuilding America's infrastructure, leading by example and showing a deep understanding of the relationship between transportation projects, workforce needs, housing affordability in ways that only a great governor can bring together. And together with a number of legislators who I know are joining us, have really stepped up above and beyond what many states have done to take advantage of the federal moment with a state commitment and state leadership.

I also want to say a word about recent events, because Governor Shapiro spoke with great moral clarity about what happened elsewhere in Pennsylvania just a few days ago: a horrific and tragic incident, an assassination attempt against a former American president, to which there can be only one response - which is an unequivocal condemnation of all forms of political violence, something that voices like Governor Shapiro, like President Biden, and like so many who have raised their voice from across the country and across the political spectrum to say, and must continue doing no matter what swirls about our political environment.

And, in that context, it is fitting maybe, that we are gathering today in the business of building bridges. In this case, a bridge that has long been needed, something that has been brought to my attention repeatedly by your governor and others. I was going to say you can take me off your speed dial, but something tells me I'll be getting calls about the next imperative for transportation in this Commonwealth, and I would expect nothing less.

And this really is an example of how things should work, as local, state, federal, county, everybody works in unison to deliver something important that no one party could do alone. And that's part of why I think none of the folks here were shy about making the case in public and over the phone about how important this project is.

I want to rewind just a little bit about to what it was like when we took office, as we marked the worsening condition of America's bridges, the number of bridges listed in poor condition around the United States, and this state was an example. Despite real progress that had been made, this need had built up over decades, and people here saw the consequences of what happened when that underinvestment took place.

As I mentioned earlier, visiting Pittsburgh in one of my first trips, I remember seeing the netting installed under the McKees Rocks Bridge in Pittsburgh to catch the pieces of concrete that would fall off of it from time to time. And that was something that was just tolerated in this country for far too long. In Philadelphia, where more than 80 bridges were in poor condition, we saw a need there too. But instead of just lamenting it, President Biden took action, and that's why I was able to go back to Philadelphia and launch a $27.5 billion nationwide bridge funding program.

And then Pennsylvania delivered more reminders of why this is so important. We all remember the shock of the images of the Fern Hollow bridge collapsing into the bottom of a ravine over 100 feet deep, and it weren't for the providence of that being a snow day, there might have been school buses driving over that bridge at that moment.

But with help from the infrastructure law and great leadership on the ground, we were able to see that bridge rebuilt in less than a year, which I thought was remarkable speed until what happened the following year: when a tanker truck crash collapsed a bridge on I-95, and your governor, and your DOT, local leaders, unions, and our Department and our Federal Highway Administration worked together night and day to get it reopened after just 12 days.

And I could keep going with examples from across the state, but the bottom line is despite the progress in recent years, there is still a clear need for bridge repairs to overcome the decades of underinvestment from Washington.

And nowhere is that need greater than at the I-83 South Bridge right here in Harrisburg.

Over 125,000 vehicles cross that bridge every day: commuters from the area, travelers from the region, trucks from across the country.

A regional study found this bridge to be, and I quote, "the area's most important crossing on the region's most vital corridor" - though I'm sure most people you talked to in the area wouldn't need a study to tell them just how important this is - they know from daily experience.

Vehicles over a certain weight are already prohibited on the bridge, after an inspection downgraded its status to "poor" condition, and it is very possible there could be further weight restrictions and lane closures needed to keep people safe.

Now, local leaders identified the needs here over 20 years ago. The fact that so many bridges like this one were allowed to fall into this condition was a failure of Washington - the consequence of a lot of talk, including a lot of "infrastructure weeks," coming and going without any real action.

Talk does not build bridges. Funding does. Partnership does. Teamwork does. Unions and the skilled workers they bring to the table and they bring to the site - that's how American builds bridges. And the leaders you see here and our president are delivering.

And that's why it's such a delight to be here on behalf of the Biden-Harris Administration to announce the award of $500 million to build a new South Bridge for I-83!

It's going to meet the safety and mobility needs of Pennsylvania today and for many years to come. It's got improved widths, merges, ramps of better design, that we estimate will lead to 117 fewer crashes every single year. Reduced congestion is projected to save drivers 538 million hours in their cars, and truck drivers 66 million hours, over the lifetime of the bridge.

And that brings me to another important benefit here, which is improved supply chains. So many of the goods that Americans count on move through the Keystone State: up to the Northeast, down to the South, East to West. Over $400 million worth of goods cross this I-83 South Bridge every day.

In fact, I remember, back when I was mayor of South Bend, we proudly told economic development people, "you know, we have the location that can get you to the most households in a 24-hour radius right here in South Bend, except, of course, for Harrisburg, Pennsylvania." That's how nationally recognized the logistical significance of this location is.

So, when a bridge like this gets to become a bottleneck, or worse, if it has to close or get limited in an emergency, the consequences will be felt by people who've never driven on I-83 and couldn't find this bridge on a map. It still affects them.

And by that same token, when our freight networks and bridges are in good shape, and projects are moving efficiently and affordably, that contributes to lower costs for American families and businesses.

It's all part of an all-hands-on-deck effort that President Biden has led to fight the inflation that COVID unleashed in our economy. The hard work to bring inflation down to 3 percent, faster than almost any other peer country, included a focus on supply chains, as well as taking on corporations on price gouging and junk fees, as well as taking on Big Pharma and capping insulin at $35 a month for seniors.

There's a lot more to do, but this is a huge step forward, and we will continue advancing hundreds of projects to benefit supply chains across the country.

There are now already thousands fewer bridges on that list of bridges in poor condition than there were when President Biden arrived. And today, this is part of a round of $5 billion going out to rebuild or repair 13 major bridges of national significance, from the I-5 bridge between Oregon and Washington, to the I-10 Mobile River Bridge in Alabama, to so many more.

And this is part of a bigger picture that goes even beyond surface transportation; I'll be at the Port of Long Beach tomorrow for the groundbreaking of an on-dock rail that will significantly increase the movement of goods through America's busiest port.

Bottom line is that America's infrastructure is finally getting better rather than worse.

And my greatest message about all of these projects - the 54,000 [57,000] projects and counting that are getting support through the President's leadership and through this legislation - is that not a single one of them was invented, developed, or designed at the U.S. Department of Transportation Headquarters in Navy Yard in Washington D.C. Every one of them came from a community, a county, a state looking for a better design.

We have never believed that all of the ideas are going to come from Washington, but we have always believed that more of the funding should. And now, at last, it is.

So congratulations to this community, to Pennsylvania, to everybody who's going to be part of this great project.

And with that, I believe we have time for some questions from the podium.

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