WASHINGTON (KNWA/KFTA) — The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced that it has released $771.3 million to Arkansas in Fiscal Year 2023 apportionments for 12 formula programs to support investment in critical infrastructure, including roads, bridges and tunnels, carbon emission reduction, and safety improvements utilizing funding from the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
According to a Department of Transportation press release, the funds go “directly to Arkansas, providing transportation leaders within Arkansas the flexibility to continue the important work of rebuilding roads and bridges and making their transportation system more efficient reflecting their state’s particular needs.”
“America’s roads and bridges are the vital arteries of our transportation system, connecting people and goods across the country,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “Because of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, today we are sending historic levels of funding to every state to help modernize the roads and bridges Americans rely on every day.”
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law makes the single-largest dedicated investment since the construction of the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s and 1960s to help address tens of thousands of bridges in need of repair or replacement. In Fiscal Year 2023, Arkansas will receive a total of $60.1 million in Bridge Formula funding to address highway bridge needs.
The funding is available to improve the condition of about 675 bridges in poor condition and to preserve and improve about 6,145 bridges in fair condition in the state that are at risk of falling into poor condition.
Nationwide, $59.9 billion in Fiscal Year 2023 formula funding was sent to states, representing an increase of $15.4 billion as compared to Fiscal Year 2021, the last fiscal year before the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law began to be implemented. This Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding is distributed annually by FHWA based on Congressionally mandated formulas.
Formula programs give states the flexibility they need to determine how to allocate funds in order to replace deficient bridges, improve safety for all road users, and reduce carbon emissions by improving transportation infrastructure for communities throughout each state. This funding we are announcing today will allow states to continue the important work of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that will make our infrastructure safer and more efficient for the tens of millions of American families that count on it to get to school, work, and critical medical care every day.
Acting Federal Highway Administrator Stephanie Pollack
Today’s Apportionment Notice can be viewed at FHWA’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funding web page, which organizes notices by fiscal year.
