Federal Grant to Make Golden Gate Bridge Safer From Earthquakes
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Protecting the safety of travelers over the Golden Gate Bridge, including 555,000 truck drivers carrying freight annually, was a key topic among Washington officials gathered in San Francisco near the iconic landmark to celebrate a $400 million federal grant for earthquake resiliency.
“There is only one Golden Gate Bridge, and we are going to protect it,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg declared Jan. 23 during a celebratory event attended by White House Transportation adviser Mitch Landrieu, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and local officials.
Buttigieg said improvements are needed in the structural elements of the bridge, built in 1937, that is a vital link for supply chains including waterborne freight at the Port of Oakland.
The bridge each year carries more than 40 million cars and half a million freight trucks as well as public transport vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians.
It was great this week to join with @LondonBreed, @SecretaryPete, @MitchLandrieu46 and @SpeakerPelosi in celebrating the $400 million investment that will help the iconic Golden Gate Bridge withstand earthquakes. pic.twitter.com/Fixxf070iq — Rep. Jared Huffman (@RepHuffman) January 25, 2023
Recently the Golden Gate Bridge ranked among four large bridge projects receiving a total of $2 billion in federal infrastructure investment funds. Competing with 40 other bridge refurbishment proposals seeking $11 billion in federal dollars, the winning projects were chosen for regional importance and being an essential part of moving goods in the national supply chain.
Buttigieg called the Golden Gate Bridge one of the world’s great, most recognizable bridges that is “also a working piece of infrastructure and an essential one at that.”
He said federal funds will pay for work on the Golden Gate to make it safer and better able to withstand seismic threats from earthquakes including installing 40 energy dissipation devices, retrofitting the towers and strengthen the bracing and floor beams.
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Improvements will ensure the structural integrity of this vital transportation link for moving people and freight along the California coast.
Landrieu noted, “You can’t have strong national security if you don’t have economic security, and you can’t have either one of those things if we don’t have really good, strong infrastructure because that is the rock upon which the rest of it is built.”
He spoke about working with Buttigieg “moving $1.2 trillion out of the door” in federal infrastructure investment funds that are helping up to 2,700 bridges being repaired today among the Department of Transportation’s various grant programs.
Large project grants under the Bridge Investment Program are available for structures with total eligible costs over $100 million, with minimum grant awards of $50 million and maximum grants for up to 50% of the total eligible project costs.
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