Biden administration announces $88.9 million for Highway 395 North Valleys Reconstruction Project in Reno
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced that the Biden-Harris Administration has awarded $88.9 million to the Nevada Department of Transportation from the popular Infrastructure for Rebuilding America competitive grant program. INFRA supports highway, multimodal freight and rail projects that will make the nation’s transportation systems safer and more resilient, eliminate supply chain bottlenecks, and improve critical freight movements.
President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law increased funding for the INFRA program by more than 50 percent to help meet high demand for federal funding to support projects across the country. Over the next 5 years, the bipartisan infrastructure law will provide approximately $8 billion for the INFRA program, including the $1.5 billion made available in this round of funding.
“Today we are announcing transformative investments in our nation’s roads, bridges, ports, and rail to improve the way Americans get around and help lower the costs of shipping goods,” said Buttigieg. “Using funding from President Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law, we are able to support more excellent community-led projects this year than ever before.”
NDOT plans to use its award to complete its Highway 395 North Valleys reconstruction project
The project includes adding two lanes along approximately 3 miles of Highway 95 with improved traffic control, interchange lighting upgrades, sound walls and Intelligent Transportation System elements. NDOT will also create a complete street along a separate 2.5-mile stretch of North Virginia Street with added sidewalks and buffered bike lanes, pedestrian crossings with rectangular rapid flashing beacons and improved transit stops. Together, these improvements will make the area safer, more efficient and more attractive for developments such as the planned Reno AirLogistics Park.
In addition to prioritizing projects that will deliver national or regional economic benefits, INFRA projects were also evaluated based on safety, how they supported freight movement and job creation, their efforts to address climate change and resiliency, impacts on equity and quality of life, how they applied innovative technology, their cost effectiveness and demonstrated project readiness. Further, USDOT awarded a significant amount of funding to rural areas, historically disadvantaged communities and areas of persistent poverty to address historic underinvestment in these communities. Approximately 43 percent of awards will go to rural projects, exceeding the statutory requirement to award rural projects 25 percent of INFRA funding.
The bipartisan infrastructure law also expanded INFRA eligibility to include, for example, wildlife crossing projects, marine highway corridor projects and surface transportation projects located within or functionally connected to an international border crossing.