Fort Wayne to share in $830M in infrastructure grants
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The city of Fort Wayne among the many recipients of $830 million in federal grants to support projects aimed at making transportation infrastructure more resilient to climate change. The funding was announced Thursday by the Biden Administration.
The grants come from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-saving Transportation, or PROTECT.
The administration said the projects supported by the funding will “strengthen the country’s surface transportation system against extreme weather events, including roads, bridges, highways, public transportation, pedestrian facilities, ports, and intercity passenger rail.”
Fort Wayne is set to receive more than $3.5 million to stabilize 2,400 feet of the west bank of the St. Mary’s River using nature-based solutions to prevent further erosion that is threatening the collapse of Bluffton Road.
The government said the road averages 23,400 vehicles daily, connects more than 100 miles of pedestrian trails, and provides Waynedale and Fort Wayne residents with access to important cultural and economic hubs.
The Fort Wayne project is the only one in Indiana to receive funding through the PROTECT program. A timeline for the project was not provided.
During a conference call with reporters, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg talked about the need for the grant funding.
“Over the last three years, we have seen far too many examples of transportation infrastructure being shut down or damaged by extreme weather, which is more extreme and more frequent in this time of climate change,” he said. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that extreme weather driven by climate change is one of the biggest threats to our infrastructure, to quality of life and safety in our communities. And it’s not an exaggeration to say that extreme weather related to climate change is one of the biggest risks to our supply chains.”
In all, 80 projects in 37 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands received a share of the $830 million in funding. You can view the full list of grant recipients by clicking here.