Jenniffer Gonzalez Announces First Allocation of $173 Million for Road and Bridge Improvements Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act

Puerto Rico will receive $173 million in federal funds allocated under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act (Public Law 116-58), known as IIJA (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) to repair and rebuild highways and bridges around the island, announced the resident commissioner, Jenniffer González Colón.

"We received notification from the Federal Highway Administration that the Island will already be seeing this first batch of funds for the Puerto Rico Highway Program block grant, which we defended and for which we achieved an increase for this fiscal year to $173. million, of the $158 million we received last year," said the resident commissioner.

The authorized amount for Puerto Rico will affect approximately 10%, to $173 million in FY22 from $158 million in fiscal year 21. During the five years of the Infrastructure Law, Puerto Rico will receive more than 14% more under this program, in compared to the amounts authorized under the FAST Act, which covered fiscal year 2016 through fiscal year 2020.

In addition to these announced funds, Puerto Rico is expected to receive under this grant; Fiscal Year 2023 - $176,960,000 an increase of $18,960,000 (11.2% increase); FY 2024 - $180,120,000 an increase of $22,120,000 (11.4% increase); FY 2025 - $183,675,000 an increase of $25,675,000 (11.6% increase); FY 2026 - $187,230,000 an increase of $29,230,000 (11.8% increase).

It is estimated that the Bipartite Infrastructure Law would allocate to Puerto Rico over $2,265 million and would access other billions of dollars to update highways, bridges, broadband, collective transportation, ports, airports, resistant constructions and others for which the commissioner He advocated from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, of which he is a member.

Details about the games that will receive the Island can be found here.

Source