Senator Chris Coons joined with 11 of his colleagues Wednesday to introduce a bill aimed at repair crumbling infrastructure in states including Delaware.
The bipartisan bill, called the BRIDGE Act, seeks to address the nation’s investment shortfall in maintaining transportation, water, energy, and other types of infrastructure.
Currently, 20 percent of the bridges in the First State don’t meet standards. The bridges are, on average, 46 years old and would require $76 billion dollars to repair and replace.
Also, 21 percent of Delaware roads are in poor condition. This costs residents an estimated $256 million dollars every year in extra repairs.
The BRIDGE Act would create an independent financing authority to provide loans to states and localities to fund the most economically viable infrastructure projects. Coons says this bill is long overdue.
“Delaware has a significant number of roads and bridges that are below the state of repair that need to be upgraded and modernized," said Coons. "If you ride on the roads or has taken a hard look at our dams and bridges recently, you know it’s well past time for us to upgrade and invest in America’s infrastructure and that goes as bit as much for Delaware as well.”
Coons adds the bill would be especially helpful in bringing bring financial resources to rural areas of the country that lack this type of assistance, like Kent and Sussex Counties.
“Rural counties often have difficulty with financing infrastructure," Coons said. "I’m pleased that this infrastructure bank proposal takes into account there are real needs in the rural parts of Delaware.”
America currently spends 2 percent of the GDP on infrastructure, about half that the country spent 50 years ago.
This bill is also being introduced at a time when Delaware’s General Assembly is squabbling over how to pay for transportation and other infrastructure projects in the First State.