State Representative Mark Wright (Covington-R) was recently named the new chairman of the House Transportation Committee. He takes over the panel at a time when the state is set to receive just over seven billion dollars from President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill.
“The money that’s coming down from this infrastructure bill is essentially the equivalent of the normal five years worth of dollars that come down from the feds and then it doubles,” said Wright.
It remains to be seen where all of the money will go. As Wright understands it, there are three pots of money that will help address roads, bridges, and even the state’s ports.
Wright says when it comes to improving the state’s roadways, much of what needs to be spent and where has already been decided, though the legislature will further review the allocations.
“We have a highway priority program that goes through the legislature if you will, so we will have some say if we haven’t already, much of these projects are on the books already,” said Wright.
Wright says in thinking of where to best spend the federal infrastructure funds, ports in the state shouldn’t be cast aside in the doling out of dollars.
“Let’s face it, that’s a big part of our economy, and you got to update your infrastructure so that’s an area I want to focus on,” said Wright.
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