Nearly two years ago, (Nov. 15, 2021) President Biden signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which allocated $1.2 trillion investment in the nation’s infrastructure over the next five years.
Let’s break down what this means for New Hampshire as of Oct. 31:
Bridges and Roads – with more than 625 miles of highways and 190 bridges in terrible condition, NH will see $847.4 million to address this issue along with roadway safety and other similar projects. $39.5 million will come through the RAISE (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity) program.
Water – many towns across the state struggle with maintaining clean and safe water, now we will see $172 million with the goal of providing just that along with improving water infrastructure. $153 million will be made available through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with $57 million of it for service line and lead pipe replacements. Another $39 million will go for safe drinking water investments which will also support lead pipe replacements.
Clean buses – NH schools will receive $2.8 million through the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program, which will replace school buses with newer low and zero-emission buses. The goal being to reduce greenhouse gases and risk to children’s health.
Clean Energy & Power – Due to worsening extreme weather and continuous climate change, power outages now cost the overall American economy over $70 BILLION yearly! NH will receive roughly $32.5 million to combat this. Broken down it includes:
$18.2 million for weatherization;
$3.6 million through the State Energy Program;
$3.5 million through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program;
$6.6 million to prevent outages and make the power grid more resilient.
Waterways and Ports – An investment of nearly $1.8 million in NH will go towards port infrastructure, addressing backlogs in maintenance while strengthening supply chains and reducing emissions and congestion in the vicinity of our ports.
Legacy Pollution Cleanup – NH will receive roughly $8.4 million to clean up “brownfield” sites. These are former chemical, energy and industrial sites which emit dangerous pollutants into nearby communities.
Public Transit – $49 million will go to improving public transportation choices throughout the state.
Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging – NH expects to get nearly $17 million in formula funding through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program over five years. This will go to support EV charging stations throughout the state. In 2022 and 2023 the state was awarded $9.9 million to build a statewide network of EV charging stations.
Airports – In order to modernize and replace airport infrastructure and maintain jobs, NH has received roughly $29.6 million for the state’s airports.
Resilience – Did you know over the last ten years, NH went through four extreme weather events? That cost the state nearly $250 million in damages. Now we have roughly $25.5 million coming for infrastructure resilience including $3.2 million for lessening flood severity through the Army Corps of Engineers.
My next article will focus on the “RAISE Grant Program” and how the state is benefitting through this.
For so long “infrastructure week” had become a bad joke during the previous administration, but now, thanks to the current administration, we are seeing this accomplishment in real time being done for the American people!