La. receives ‘D+’ grade for infrastructure in report card from White House

WASHINGTON (WAFB) - Louisiana has received a D+ grade on its infrastructure in a new report card from President Joe Biden’s administration.

The report cites data that was collected by a team of more than 50 civil engineers who studied eleven major components of Louisiana’s infrastructure for more than 18 months.

In Louisiana there are 1,634 bridges and over 3,411 miles of highway in poor condition. Since 2011, commute times have increased by 9.3% in Louisiana and on average, each driver pays $667 per year in costs due to driving on roads in need of repair. The American Jobs Plan will devote more than $600 billion to transform our nations’ transportation infrastructure and make it more resilient, including $115 billion repairing roads and bridges.

DOTD Secretary Dr. Shawn Wilson issued a statement in response to the findings.

“The White House Infrastructure Plan is included in a major jobs initiative that addresses many aspects of our economy. Surface transportation in Louisiana stands to benefit from a direct investment in roads and bridges, as well as with transit, rail expansion, resilience, broadband, and in equity investments to address social implications of infrastructure decisions. Louisiana has a backlog of at least $14.8 billion in roads and bridges and our multimodal needs are similarly situated. The state has projects ready to move forward provided funding becomes available and the ability to quickly deliver major projects as evidenced with what we were able to accomplish since 2016. The new south bridge in the Baton Rouge area is one of those large-scale projects across the state that may be a recipient of funds if the American Jobs Plan becomes law. I have been and will continue to be engaged with USDOT and other stakeholders to ensure Louisiana is best positioned to take advantage of such a generational investment.”

This is a developing news story. WAFB will have more on this on 9News at 4, 5, and 6.

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