Protecting the safety of 555,000 truck drivers who traverse the Golden Gate Bridge annually was a key topic among Washington officials gathered in San Francisco to celebrate a $400 million federal grant for earthquake resiliency. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg declared Jan. 23 during the event, attended by White House Transportation adviser Mitch Landrieu, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and local officials, that improvements are needed in the bridge’s structural elements to protect the vital link for supply chains including at the Port of Oakland.
The Golden Gate Bridge carries >40M cars, ~500K freight trucks, public transport, bicyclists, and pedestrians annually. It recently received $2B in federal investment funds from 40 other bridge proposals vying for $11B. These funds will help make the bridge safer by installing 40 energy dissipation devices, retrofitting the towers, and strengthening bracing and floor beams. According to Buttigieg, the bridge is “one of the world’s great, most recognizable bridges that is also a working piece of infrastructure and an essential one at that.”
Structural Integrity for Supply Chain Transport
Improvements will ensure the structural integrity of this vital transportation link along the California coast. Landrieu noted, “You can’t have strong national security without economic security and infrastructure is the rock it is built on.” He spoke about working with Buttigieg to move $1.2 trillion in federal infrastructure investment funds to repair up to 2,700 bridges.
Large project grants under the Bridge Investment Program are available for structures with total eligible costs >$100 million, with grant awards of $50 million (max. 50% of eligible costs).
Sources:
https://www.ttnews.com/articles/fhwa-opens-applications-236-billion-upgrade-bridges
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