What Will The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Bring To The Tri-State Area?
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- President Joe Biden plans to sign the trillion dollar, bipartisan infrastructure bill when Congress returns from recess.
The bill includes money for roads, bridges, safe water and broadband. So what's headed to the Tri-State Area? CBS2's Alice Gainer explains.
The plan sets aside money for roads and bridges.
"The Old Saybrook Rail Bridge, which is 114 years old. I mean, these are structures which break down, which cause the Amtrak to slow down," said U.S. Rep Joe Courtney of Connecticut.
"Amtrak is gonna get, we have money for high-speed rail. We have money, $65 billion, a lot of it will go to Amtrak to make the ride from Boston to Washington a lot quicker," said U.S. Sen Chuck Schumer of New York.
That includes the Gateway Program.
"We will finally build new trans-Hudson tunnels between New York and New Jersey," said U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey.
When it comes to public transit, billions of dollars will go to the MTA.
"We'll have money to strengthen them, make them work better, get in a signal system. Do things like Second Avenue subway," Schumer said.
There's also money for broadband access.
"We saw that during the pandemic, when there were parts of our state, not just the rural parts, but urban centers, that did not have broadband access," said U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes of Connecticut.
Money also covers electric vehicles: charging stations, electric school buses and hybrids.
It will modernize the electric grid to protect against power outages, make airport improvements and address water and wastewater issues by replacing lead pipes and reducing contamination.
It's all expected to create millions of jobs nationwide, including thousands locally. It's a huge investment, but has limitations.
"We still won't have enough dollars to cover every, single project," said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.
Connecticut leaders said they plan to listen to people around the state and hold meetings to find out what's most important to them when refining where some of the money is spent.
Sen. Schumer said the bill includes an amendment to address limo safety in the wake of the the deadly crash in Schoharie County in 2018.
