Free Republic

Presidential candidate Joe Biden has released an infrastructure plan that calls for $1.3 trillion in investment over 10 years. The plan, released Nov. 14, makes a pledge to update the nation’s freight infrastructure, from highways and canals to railroads and tunnels. Biden plans to spend $50 billion over the first year of his presidency to repair roads, highways and bridges. He proposes a new $40 billion, 10-year Transformational Projects Fund, which will provide substantial grants for projects that are too large to be funded through existing programs, such as a major port upgrade or new tunnel. Biden also plans to...

With few exceptions, states are losing the battle with aging bridges in need of repair or replacement. Even states with low percentages of bridges rated poor are finding it difficult to keep up with bridge and road systems that in many cases are 50 years old or older. Utah, which ranks fourth for the lowest percentage of poor bridges, programs a bridge for repair or replacement in the year after it drops to a poor rating, completing the project within four or five years. The Utah Department of Transportation notes, though, that the number of bridges falling from good to...

Maryland is again seeking federal funds for the second phase of widening Interstate 81 in Washington County. Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration announced Monday that it submitted two Infrastructure for Rebuilding America, or INFRA, grant applications. One project would widen part of I-81. The other would renovate the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore, so it could carry double-stacked rail traffic. The application is accompanied a 50-page attachment of letters of support from state officials, as well as business, civic and political leaders in the Tri-State region. A letter signed by Hogan says the grant funding “will position the I-81 Corridor as...

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — The widening of Interstate 81 from West Virginia into Maryland remains on track to be finished in 2020. "Work is still continuing in the cold," Stephen Bucy said Wednesday. Bucy, an engineer with the Maryland Department of Transportation, reported on the project and other Interstate 81 work Wednesday afternoon during a meeting of the Hagerstown/Eastern Panhandle Metropolitan Planning Organization's Interstate Council in Martinsburg. The current I-81 work is widening the highway from two to three lanes in each direction from about U.S. 11 (Exit 23) in West Virginia across the Potomac River to Md. 63/68 (Exit 1)...

Maryland has submitted another grant application seeking federal money to help widen part of Interstate 81. The application will face a little less competition, because another Maryland project was withdrawn. "I feel pretty good (about the application) for a couple of reasons. ... We're a large project that's not looking for a lot of money in a rural area," Matt Mullenax, executive director of the Hagerstown/Eastern Panhandle Metropolitan Planning Organization, said Monday. The $81.9 million project would extend the widening of I-81 to six lanes from Williamsport to Interstate 70. Mullenax said the Maryland Department of Transportation plans to fund...