WASHINGTON — Ohio will get more than $12 billion in funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, according to early White House estimates published by CNBC.com. Indiana would receive $8.84 billion, while Kentucky would get $6.94 billion.
President Joe Biden signed the bill Monday. Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, one of the bill's biggest supporters, attended and spoke at the signing.
"We've got a major bridge in my hometown and it's also a major bottleneck desperately in need of replacing," Portman said. "We've been trying to do it for 25 years, but we haven't been able to pull together the funding and figure out how to do it. This new law finally gives us the tools we need to fix the Brent Spence Bridge, and the same is true for major projects all around the country."
Local transportation and business leaders from Cincinnati were there to witness President Biden sign the bill Monday.
CEO of Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber Jill Meyer was there.
"This is a generational investment in transportation and infrastructure. At the chamber, we spent nearly the last decade trying to build a transportation system that connects people to jobs, education, health care, everything our region has to offer," said Chamber leader Pete Metz. "This bill has something in it that can achieve so many of those things."
Metro CEO Darryl Haley was also in the crowd.
"In April, he had the honor of testifying for Congress in support of the act," said spokesperson Brandy Jones. "Later on, we had Vice President Harris come to Cincinnati and called our city and system a model example of what can happen when a community invests in public transit."
The bill sets aside the largest amount ever for public transit.
"It's going to include things like investing in biking and pedestrian trails like the Crown Trail Network, like investing in public transit like the SORTA bus system and TANK in Northern Kentucky. It’s going to allow us to electrify our transportation system with new EVs and EV charging. There’s just so many opportunities here," said Metz with Cincinnati chamber.
The White House numbers published by CNBC.com are estimates based on previous allocated funding. Depending on the funding formulas in the Infrastructure Bill, those numbers could change. Funding will also roll out over years, which will also affect total dollar amounts.
Ohio is expected to receive $9.2 billion for highways and $483 million for bridge replacements and repairs, as well as $1.2 billion to improve public transit. The state is also expected to receive $1.4 billion over five years to improve water infrastructure across the state, $253 million for airport developments and $100 million in broadband funding for high-speed internet access.
Indiana's $8.84 billion total in funding would be divided to $6.6 billion for highways, $751 million for water infrastructure, $401 million for bridges and $410 million for other infrastructure projects.
In Kentucky, $5 billion will go to infrastructure projects across the Commonwealth for roads, bridges, airports and disaster mitigation. Another $400 million goes to public transit, $100 million to broadband internet and $647 to clean drinking water.
Once the signing is completed, the bill will begin a roll-out through federal agencies like the Department of Energy and the Department of Transportation before funding is given to states and municipalities.
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