PennDOT Sees Dollars for Interstate Widenings in Biden's Jobs Plan

Despite the narrative about infrastructure spending priorities shifting toward emissions-reducing investments in the American Jobs Plan, the car-centric status quo expects more of the same.

1 minute read

April 13, 2021, 7:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Pennsylvania Trucks

Trucks traveling northbound on Interstate 83 in Pennsylvania. | Andriy Blokhin / Shutterstock

If you've been reading the news and commentary about the American Jobs Plan proposed by the Biden administration at the end of March, you wouldn't be wrong to expect big benefits for renewable energy, public transit, and other, investments that reflect a more expansive concept of infrastructure.

According to an article by Michael Gorsegner, reporting for CBS 21 in Pennsylvania, representatives for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation see the American Jobs Plan as good news for the state's roads.

"Pennsylvania may see an influx of cash to fix its crumbling road network," writes Gorsegner. That assessment is echoed by the comments of Chris Drda, acting District 8 executive for PennDOT, who is quoted in the article saying that the jobs plan is great news for the transportation industry in Pennsylvania. One project mentioned in the article as a potential recipient of American Jobs Plan funding is a proposal to widen a 100-mile stretch of Interstate 81 from the Maryland state line to Interstate 78 at cost of $3 billion.

The article also mentioned a plan to add an interchange to Interstate 83 in York County as a potential recipient of funding. That plan is moving forward, according to Gorsegner, with or without new funding from the Biden jobs plan.

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