Infrastructure Coordinator Landrieu Comes to MI

Almost one year ago, we passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) – the biggest investment in America’s infrastructure since the construction of the interstate highway system when Dwight Eisenhower was President. Thanks to this law, Michigan will be getting $10 billion over the next decade to rebuild our roads and bridges, expand broadband access to every corner of the state, and to finally replace lead pipes and repair our water infrastructure.

Earlier this year, the White House named former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu to serve as the coordinator for implementing the law, and on Friday I had the pleasure of welcoming him to mid-Michigan to see how we’re already getting shovels in the ground. We visited the I-69 bridge in Eaton County, an essential artery of our road system that carries traffic over the Grand River just outside Lansing.

Using funds supplied by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the bridge is currently undergoing a $1.8 million repair that will also make it more resilient to storm surges along the Grand River. But the best part is that much of the work is being done by our very own Operating Engineers 324. As we wrote the bill in Congress, we made sure to include Buy-American and prevailing wage provisions so that projects like this one support American businesses and give our workers a living wage that can support their families.

The I-69 bridge project is just one of the first of many examples of how the BIL is making a concrete impact in Michigan. Earlier in the week, I had the chance to see the great work being done on the other side of Lansing to rebuild I-496, a project funded in part by the BIL.

These projects will in turn create tens of thousands of union jobs. Not to mention the fact that these investments in our infrastructure will help support families, local businesses, and our state’s tourism industry.

As a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, I was a part of the group that first laid out the initial framework for this bill in the summer of 2021, so it’s really gratifying to visit a work site like this and see shovels in the ground making a real, tangible difference for our state.

Congress has been talking about getting a federal infrastructure package done for decades, and thanks to a group of Democrats and Republicans putting partisan politics aside and working together, we finally came to a compromise and got it done.

– Rep. Elissa Slotkin