The Biden infrastructure bill.
Though the $1 trillion infrastructure law was signed November 15, the bulk of the money had been locked up awaiting congressional approval of a 2022 fiscal year spending bill.
That changed this month when the House and Senate finally passed an appropriations bill for the remainder of the fiscal year. The move ends five months of passing last-minute, stop-gap measures to keep the federal government from shutting down.
A continuing resolution to keep the government funded was set to expire March 15, but President Joe Biden signed the new spending legislation the same day.
The appropriations bill releases a 43% increase in funding over 2021 for federal highway programs through September 30, for a total of $69.4 billion, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.
Public transportation programs will get a 61% increase for a total of $20.4 billion this year.
The recently signed $1.5 trillion federal appropriations for 2022 includes the designation of a future Interstate 27 from Texas to New Mexico.
The Ports-to-Plains Corridor, as it is called, is recognized from Laredo, Texas, to Raton, New Mexico, in the legislation signed by President Joe Biden on March 15, 2022. The corridor extends down to the Mexican border.
The ultimate plan for the corridor is to extend to the Canadian border in future phases, beyond the current designation.
The interstate designation is the first step toward creating the interstate as a four-lane, divided federal highway. The highway would stretch out 963 miles in west and south Texas using existing highways along the way that would be upgraded to interstate standards or new interstate sections developed, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. It would eventually extend the 124 miles of I-27 completed in 1992.
The corridor also includes sections of I-20, I-35, U.S. 83, U.S. 277, U.S. 287, State Highway 158 and State Highway 349.
Upgrading the entire corridor would cost $23.5 billion, according to a TxDOT feasibility study in 2020.
Ports-to-Plains:
- I won't see it in my life time, but the best route to take this corridor to Canada would take it through Williston, ND, and the Bakken
- most of that route is already interstate
- from Miles City, MT, to Glendive, MT: I-94, west of Dickinson
- then, the only route takes the corridor through Williston, ND, and the Bakken
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