PortMiami is among three Florida facilties that will benefit by Biden administration grants, via facility’s website.
The Florida Department of Transportation will receive $114.16 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation to replace Long Key Bridge in Monroe County and more.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the bridge has been rated fair or poor for 15 years. It opened in 1982.
It is estimated that $2 billion in freight crosses the Long Key Bridge each year.
Approximately 72,000 people live south of the bridge, which serves as an evacuation route.
“The replacement bridge will provide wider 10-foot shoulders, a bicycle/pedestrian shared use path, a 75-year service life design, and greater resilience to severe tropical storms,” according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Biden-Harris administration is carrying out ambitious, complex transportation projects that will shape our country’s infrastructure for generations to come,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a news release.
The Long Key Bridge project is one of 35 large bridge projects under the President Joe Biden’s National Infrastructure Project Assistance and Infrastructure for REbuilding America grant programs.
Port projects
Additionally, PortMiami will receive $25.6 million to replace diesel cargo moving equipment with electric and hybrid equipment.
The project will “significantly reduce maintenance and downtime from the older equipment, as well as significantly reduce the amount of emissions, greenhouse gases, and other toxic emissions from the port.”
An expansion in Port Tampa Bay will receive $22 million in federal funds to expand available acres to berth ships.
“The project will transform the facility from a small underutilized dock and yard into a large marine terminal, capable of accommodating deepwater ships,” according to the department.
Projects were awarded based on cost effectiveness, safety, economic impacts, freight movement, job creation, climate change, multimodal options, quality of life, and more.
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