by Brayden Yee
Last Monday, President Biden signed the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill into law. The bill has gone through negotiations since being introduced in June and was passed with bipartisan support in both the Senate and the House. The historic investment is the first in over a decade and comes as thousands of miles of roads, bridges, and trains are in poor condition.
The bill contains many provisions and updates to the current American transportation system, including $110 billion towards repairing roads, bridges, and other programs, $39 billion to improving public transit accessibility, buying low-emission buses, and repairing aging services such as railcars and stations, $66 billion to Amtrak, to improve the safety of their high-speed rail system and modernize its routes, $7.5 billion to fund electric vehicle chargers across the country, and $25 billion for airports.
The bill also provides funding for utilities: $65 billion will go towards improving broadband access in rural and low-income communities, $108 billion to improving the country's energy grid, and $55 billion towards clean drinking water -- including replacing all of the nation’s lead pipes.
Additionally, $650 billion will be provided in previously authorized funds, which includes funding for highways and public transit.
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