SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On Monday, President Joe Biden signed his $1 trillion infrastructure deal into law, which he says promises jobs, clean water, high-speed internet and a clean energy future.
“My message to the American people is this: America is moving again and your life is going to change for the better,” Biden said.
For California, the bill includes investment in roads and bridges, water infrastructure and even help for firefighters battling the state's devastating wildfires.
Here's how some of the funds spread across the country break down:
- $110 billion for roads, bridges and major repair projects
- $40 billion for bridge repair
- $39 billion for public transit
- $8.3 billion in Wester Water infrastructure
- $1.15 billion for water storage
- $3.4 billion in firefighting efforts.
Congressman Ami Bera (D-Elk Grove) explained the impacts that the major bill could have on the Sacramento region.
The following responses responses have been shortened for brevity.
Infrastructure
Bera: "California and the Sacramento region should receive funding both to do water infrastructure... again to continue protecting us from floods but also help build infrastructure to manage our droughts. We should also get funding to repair roads, bridges, highways and there's a lot in here for electric vehicle charging stations. And I think that's an area where our region really does have an advantage."
Commuters
Bera: "Well, I think commuters and folks that live and work in the Sacramento region it's my hope that we can get the funding to finally build out the connector project, which would link Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova, Folsom, up to El Dorado Hills. It would take a lot of traffic off of Highway 99, take traffic off of Highway 50 and give us another major thoroughfare to open up East Sacramento."
High-speed internet
Bera: “A big component of this bill is rural broadband, and we've seen in the pandemic the importance of making sure everyone has access to telehealth, or if you have to do remote learning, a lot of our communities in rural America don't have broadband access and also in Sacramento County. So, a big portion of this is to build out that rural broadband access, both the farming communities and rural communities."
Flood control
Bera: "You know, this law makes a big difference in flood control. A lot of people often forget that Sacramento has one of the highest flood risks in the country, and we've been working on our levees to protect our community. This will provide additional funding to continue the levee work that we're doing.”
Public transportation
Bera: "In this bill, there's a fair amount of funding for public transportation, so that'll help the regional transit district. It will also allow us to hopefully build additional higher density housing around transportation hubs. There's also funding in here to link communities through higher speed rail and high-speed rail, so that could benefit linking Elk Grove down to Tracy over to the San Francisco Bay Area."
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