Monday, September 16, 2024

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spotlights infrastructure investments in central Pa. visit

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U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg spotlighted the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in a visit to several projects the law helped fund in central Pennsylvania.

Buttigieg made stops in Harrisburg, Lancaster and Steelton during his visit to the area.

During his stop in Lancaster City, Buttigieg touted what the city plans to do with the $12 million it received through the infrastructure law, which is to improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians. 

In Harrisburg, Buttigieg looked at what was being done at Harrisburg International Airport with $7.5 million awarded through the law to replace up to six existing jet bridges and improve the safety of passengers. 

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In Steelton, Buttigieg joined Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro at the Cleveland-Cliffs Steelton steel plant where rails are made for the nation’s railroad system, including those used for transit in major cities on the East Coast. 

During a news conference there, Buttigieg said the infrastructure law helps companies like Cleveland-Cliffs by using their American-made products in infrastructure projects around the country. 

“Every time someone boards a subway, a streetcar or rail car riding on rails built with Steelton steel, they are better off and safer because of the quality that you do here,” Buttigieg said. 

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Buttigieg said that infrastructure projects are just getting started, noting that steel created in central Pennsylvania — for example — is being used in projects nationwide.

“We’re just getting warmed up,” he said. “We are on the outset of this infrastructure decade.”

Shapiro pointed out how Pennsylvania workers are at the forefront of helping rebuild infrastructure.

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“We are leading the way here in 2024 as we rebuild this nation’s infrastructure as we prepare for the next generation,” the governor said. 

Shapiro pointed out Buttigieg’s support to help get I-95 in Philadelphia reopened in record time after a tanker truck carrying gasoline caught fire beneath the overpass and caused it to collapse. Steel from the Steelton plant was used to do the permanent repairs to the overpass, Shapiro said. 

He also pointed out that more than 7,000 miles of roadway were repaired in Pennsylvania because of the federal infrastructure funds, 1,000 more than the previous year.

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