News & Notes
Edition 2
Wisconsin’s Oshkosh to Green Bay Route & Highway Patrol Expansion’s $1 Billion Price Tag
Photo Courtesy of WisDOT
Wisconsin’s Department of Transportation’s new I-41 Project began construction in early spring of 2024, starting the reconstruction and expansion of 23 miles of the highway from WIS 96 in Oshkosh to Green Bay.
This expansion will widen the 23-mile stretch from four lanes to six and is scheduled to be completed in 2030. The project’s main focus is to increase safety on the corridor.
“The I-41 corridor has a higher crash rate than a lot of other similar highways with similar traffic volumes,” says the WisDOT website. This six-year project will cost upwards of $1 billion and includes the rebuilding of interchanges and the construction of a new headquarters for the northeast region of the Wisconsin State Patrol.
Pennsylvania Secures $404 Million in Broadband Infrastructure Funds
The state of Pennsylvania is getting a big boost to their broadband infrastructure this year after a large release of federal funding for high-speed internet development in late April.
Over 100,000 Pennsylvanians are set to benefit from these buildouts, with 42 counties on the path towards greater connectivity. The 53 individual broadband projects are being funded by more than $204 million in public funds, while being matched by an additional $200 million in private sourced funds according to the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority (PBDA). Project deadlines are set for December 31, 2026, with funds being awarded to multiple vendors including Verizon, Comcast, Upward Broadband, and more.
EPA: "Get the Lead Out" Initiative Deadline Approaches
Image courtesy of the U.S. EPA
The “Get the Lead Out” (GLO) project is a fully funded initiative by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help accelerate the removal of toxic lead pipes throughout the United States on both public and private property within the next 10 years.
Currently, there is a hard deadline set by the Environmental Protective Agency (EPA) of October 16, 2024, for water system managers with systems in communities of over 50,000 residents to provide an initial inventory of their lead service lines. Providing a service line inventory is the first step towards removal and replacement of these lines.
There have already been large strides towards the removal and replacement of lead pipes within states such as Connecticut, Wisconsin, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania due to the President’s and Department of Labor’s (DOL) collaboration to create Lead Service Line Replacement Accelerators. As of 2024, The GLO Initiative will serve approximately 200 communities on a rolling basis over the next two years, with the EPA aiming to serve 75 communities in the first year and 125 in the second year.
Tracking National Infrastructure Dollars:
Over two years ago, the Biden-Harris administration signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, an investment in America’s infrastructure aimed at rebuilding roads and bridges, replacing lead pipes, delivering cheaper clean energy to household and businesses, and helping provide high-speed internet across America.
Since then, nearly $400 billion in funding and over 40,000 projects across 4,500 communities across the country have been announced. There have been improvements made in both the private, and public sectors, with a reported 135,800 miles of road improvement projects in the works, as well as over 7,800 bridge repair projects.
Notable progress in rail and broadband infrastructure include:
- $16.4 billion in funding for 25 passenger rail projects on the Northeast Corridor to repair aging infrastructure
- High-speed internet infrastructure grants totaling more than $886 million to serve over 148 Tribal governments, which will connect more than 65,000 Tribal households
The U.S. Department of the Interior, and the White House have provided a handy, interactive map applications for the public to track the flow of infrastructure monies into projects throughout the U.S..
