(Washington, D-C)   U-S Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeig, last week, announced the Biden-Harris Administration has awarded more than $2.2 billion from the RAISE discretionary grant program to 162 different infrastructure projects across the country. The funding includes a nearly $23 million grant to build a pedestrian bridge and a multi-modal transit hub to better connect neighborhoods and college campuses to downtown Orangeburg, South Carolina.

Iowa was awarded a $24.7 million grant to replace up to nine bridges in poor condition in rural counties. Some bridges are weight-restricted and currently force detours for both residents and commercial truck drivers.

Pottawattamie County Engineer John Rasmussen issued a statement, saying “The RAISE Grant will add a Center Left Turn Lane to G30 from Railroad Highway to I80 in Underwood, as well as replacing the Mosquito Creek Bridge.  The existing Mosquito Creek Bridge is Structurally Deficient with weight restrictions looming. The existing pavement on this section is beyond repair.  There is a lot of truck traffic and congestion due to the truck stop, repair shops, hotels, restaurants, commuters, and the Jack Link’s warehouse. The goal of this project,” he said, “ is to resolve these issues and maintain through traffic during the construction.”

Rasmussen said also, “While the County isn’t receiving less funding than in the past, inflation has caused us to reduce the number of projects that we are planning by about 30% to make up for the higher costs.  The RAISE Grant will help get a project done that we’d otherwise be saving money for a decade to complete.  This funding will be instrumental in helping Pottawattamie County overcome the challenges of inflation that we expect to experience over the next few years.”

The RAISE grant program, expanded under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, supports communities of all sizes, with half of the FY2023 funding going to rural areas and the other half to urban areas. The grants are part of the Biden Administration’s “Investing in America” agenda.