U.S. President Joe Biden will participate in a Kentucky event on Wednesday with Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to promote the results of the $1 trillion infrastructure plan, a White House official said on Sunday, Reuters reported.
The two will attend a ceremony to commemorate the $1.64 billion in financing allocated to the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project linking the two states over the Ohio River. They will also be joined by Republican Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.
A new bridge as well as renovation of the 60-year-old, extensively used one are included in the funding for the crossing.
With the new bridge, a 60-year-old span that was severely crowded will be repaired and a second crossing will be added.
While many House Republicans, including Representative Kevin McCarthy, opposed the infrastructure package when it was approved in November 2021, McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, was one of them.
Building a new companion bridge in the Brent Spence Bridge route will be one of the bill’s defining achievements, McConnell said in a statement last week.
The occasion is scheduled for the day after McCarthy’s Republicans seize control of the House, ending Democratic control of Congress and kicking off a period of split government.
For years, Kentucky and Ohio sought funds for the project.
Then, in 2011, after paying a visit to the crossing, President Barack Obama encouraged Congress to approve a jobs program that would cost billions of dollars and may involve replacing the bridge, which by that point had already been deemed structurally outdated.
Donald Trump supported financing for the project when he ran for president in 2016. However, throughout his four years in power, he was unable to get funds for the project or enact the significant infrastructure bill he had consistently promised.
To repair and replace hundreds of dilapidated U.S. bridges over the course of five years, the infrastructure law of 2021 allocates $27 billion.
This week, additional events will include praise for infrastructure prizes from various government representatives, including Vice President Kamala Harris.
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