On Oct. 5 the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration announced that it has assigned $747 million to Alaska in Fiscal Year 2024 apportionments. The money will go toward 12 formula programs that support infrastructural investment.
This infrastructure includes roads, bridges, tunnels, carbon emission reduction, and safety improvements.
The federal money will also support workforce development to support the investments, through using funding from U.S. President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
“Long-needed major improvements are coming to America’s network of roads, bridges, and highways,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a statement. “Thanks to President Biden, we are proud to deliver funding to modernize roads and bridges across America — strengthening our supply chains, creating good-paying jobs, and connecting Americans to every corner of this country.”
The funds will come directly to the state, which allows for Alaska’s transportation leaders to direct how the funding will address Alaska’s transportation needs through projects like building roads and bridges.
“These historic investments in American infrastructure give States the flexibility they need to determine how to allocate funds for a range of transportation projects such as improving safety for all road users, replacing aging bridges, and reducing carbon emissions,” said Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt in the statement. “This funding will allow states to continue the important work of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that is making our infrastructure safer and more efficient for the millions of Americans who rely on it to get to school, work, and other important destinations every day.”
The president’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is the largest dedicated investment in American transportation infrastructure since the construction of the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s and 1960s.
