USDOT Announces Emergency Relief Funding For Disaster-Damaged Roadways
The USDOT and FHWA has announced that it will provide $513.2 million in Emergency Relief ER Program funds to help 30 states make repairs to roads and bridges damaged by storms, floods, wildfires and other events in recent years.
This is an ongoing effort to help states repair and rebuild critical infrastructure that residents and businesses rely on following extreme weather events. The District of Columbia and Puerto Rico were also included in the announcement.
“These funds with help communities across our nation repair roads and bridges damaged by severe weather events, which are becoming increasingly common because of climate change,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “From recent hurricanes that struck the Gulf Coast, to wildfires in California and floods and mudslides in numerous states, we must address the devastating impacts of climate change and work to build more sustainable transportation infrastructure to better withstand its impacts for years to come.”
The Impacts of Poor Infrastructure
Climate change impacts the lives of Americans on a daily basis and has increasingly meant that the nation’s transportation infrastructure is facing more frequent and unpredictable damage from severe weather events, according to acting Federal Highway Administrator Stephanie Pollack. “The Emergency Relief funding the Administration is announcing today will overwhelmingly go toward repairing damage to roads and bridges relied upon by communities across the country,” she said.
The majority of funding goes toward reimbursement for states, territories, federal land management agencies and tribal governments to fix and restore roads and bridges in the aftermath of wildfires, hurricanes, flooding and other weather-related events, including Hurricane Ida damage in several states and California wildfires. Additional funding is also available to repair and replace structures due to catastrophic failure from external causes like extreme weather.
FHWA Tackles Climate Change
Additional steps are being taken by the FHWA to tackle climate change by updating its Emergency Relief Manual for 2022 to highlight the program’s impact on improvements to system resilience. The agency has also embarked on a rulemaking to amend the FHWA Emergency Relief program regulations to incorporate climate resiliency while making it possible to use more funds toward improving system resilience.
The Fiscal Year 2022 allocation provides funding for continued repairs from the 2015 and 2016 California Winter Storms, 2017 Hurricanes Irma and Maria, 2020 Michigan Spring Flooding and recent Arkansas flooding and Alabama tornadoes.
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