The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) was signed into law in late 2021, committing $550 billion for new initiatives related to roads, bridges, mass transit, water, resilience, and broadband. The five year funding period for the IIJA began in 2022 and ends in 2026. At the halfway point, how’s it going?
Over 56,000 Projects
According to The White House,“To date, the Administration has announced nearly $454 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding, including over 56,000 specific projects and awards, across over 4,500 communities in all 50 states, D.C., the territories, and for Tribes” A nationwide map of the funded projects provides an interesting snapshot of all the work going on, while state fact sheets further detail all the projects. Given that the biggest slice of IIJA funds were allocated for road and bridge work, it’s perhaps especially reassuring to know that the projects underway include repairs to over 165,000 miles of roads and more than 9,400 bridges.
Further positive news is reflected in an analysis by S&P Global, a financial information provider, which concludes that “The IIJA and other federal funding has buoyed the infrastructure sector amid slowdowns elsewhere in the building industry in recent years. Infrastructure spending continues to build in 2024 as $1.8 trillion in federal grants, loans, tax credits and other financial incentives seep into the economy.” Of course, however, there remains a great deal of the allocated IIJA funding to be awarded—and a growing list of infrastructure work to attend to in light of climate change, as Construction Dive reports:
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- To date, $454 billion of the IIJA’s $1.2 trillion has been announced for a range of projects….Halfway through the five-year Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, less than half — 38% — of the funding has been announced, according to the White House. That’s a 13.5% increase in the past 6 months, an indication that the process is ramping up but still lags.
- ….Inflation has sapped the buying power of the law, according to S&P. Elevated prices for materials, wage increases and continued skilled trades worker shortages have resulted in the funding carrying less bang-for-the-infrastructure buck than what policymakers envisioned.
- Many of the country’s infrastructure systems suffer from long standing underinvestment, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. ASCE gave U.S. infrastructure a “C minus” on its most recent report card…. Many need updates to withstand the impact of more frequent and intense extreme weather due to climate change.
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