In the last weeks of the outgoing Biden administration, Connecticut’s federal delegation has lobbied for infrastructure dough prior to the transition of power with another Trump presidency. Thursday afternoon Congressman Jim Himes and Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy announced $24.6 million to erect a new Congress Street Bridge, dormant for about 30 years, to connect Downtown with the East Side.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was a key player in the sign off of this money.
In addition to the commerce and transportation key of a new bridge comes public safety. Fire headquarters sits at the edge of the Downtown gap across the Pequonnock River, leading to a circuitous route to the East Side calls.
Prior to Covid, the city believed it had all of the financing in place but costs skyrocketed when the pandemic hit necessitating extra federal loot to close the cost gap. In all this project will cost about $50 million, federal dough covering half while city and state split the rest already committed.
Could a Trump administration blow this thing up? Nothing is cast in stone until all the paperwork is signed, but many other states will also benefit from federal dollars, some blue states, some red states in the final days of team Biden.
News release:
Today, Congressman Jim Himes (CT-04), Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) announced that Bridgeport was selected by the U.S. Department of Transportation to receive a $24.6 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant to fund the construction of a new Congress Street Bridge spanning the Pequonnock River.
“Since my election in 2008, I have worked tirelessly on the reconstruction of the Congress Street Bridge- a project that would reconnect Bridgeport’s downtown with the East Side. We have met many bureaucratic barriers throughout this frustrating process, but I hope that this grant will finally deliver the results the people of Bridgeport have waited on for so long. They deserve to be able to move about their city freely, and I will continue pushing until we see this bridge rebuilt in full,” said Congressman Jim Himes.
“This over $24 million federal investment to replace Congress Street Bridge will provide tremendous relief to Bridgeport residents after years of advocacy,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal. “Today’s announcement marks the first step toward improving connectivity, safety, and accessibility in Bridgeport – literally bridging communities. I’ll continue to work with the Connecticut delegation and the city of Bridgeport to ensure that this project is realized quickly and efficiently.”
“This project has been a long time coming, and our delegation has been fighting to get the federal funding it needs to be successful. Replacing the Congress Street bridge will make it easier for people living on the East Side to get to downtown, saving them time and reconnecting the two communities,” said Senator Chris Murphy.
“I want to thank Congressman Jim Himes, Senator Chris Murphy, and Senator Richard Blumenthal for their steadfast advocacy to secure final funding for this project,” said Mayor Joe Ganim. “After thirty years, the Congress Street Bridge will finally reconnect the bustling East Side and Downtown neighborhoods and will increase public safety response times. The City of Bridgeport is prepared to get to work and ensure this project is completed expeditiously.”
The $24.6 million included in this RAISE grant brings the total federal funding delivered by Congressman Himes and Senators Blumenthal and Murphy to $26.9 million, including $2.3 million federal dollars to demolish the bridge in 2010. The federal delegation passed legislation in 2018 to approve reconstruction over the Pequonnock river, and supported the City of Bridgeport, CTDOT, and local partners in securing an additional $24 million for the replacement of the bridge in 2019.
The RAISE program allows project sponsors, including state and local governments, to pursue multi-modal and multi-jurisdictional projects that are more difficult to fund through other grant programs. RAISE grants are awarded to eligible surface transportation projects that will have a significant local or regional impact.
I’ll believe it when I’m driving over it,which I don’t think will happen in my lifetime.This is about the third time an “announcement” has been made that Bpt as been awarded a grant to replace this bridge,Joe usually sets up a presser on the bridge to announce it during a reelection bid…THE $24 mill grant is great,but the roadblock is always the balance,this time the balance is $26 mill,split evenly between the state & city..Will Lamont green light $13 mill,doubtful,and where exactly will Bpt get its $13 mill?? …Same ending,different year..
SAD BUT TRUE………………………..30 YRS WOW CRAZY BUT SO LIKE BPT……………..
Ghost $. Will never make it down river…. [Side Note: Have to mention again that it is really a travesty foisted upon Bridgeport by the feds that IFFF the bridge gets built according to present stipulations, Bridgeport will lose the Pequonnock shipping channel that was used to service factories and warehouses all the way past downtown to the huge East Side manufacturing zone (Bridgeport Brass, et al.) for 100+ years! That channel could still be used for varied transportation purposes — including recreational — and it is a damn shame that such an important asset has been closed so that the Congress Street Bridge could be replaced on the cheap. Wouldn’t be done like that in Norwalk or Stamford!!) They always skimp on Bridgeport — because we vote for them anyway!]
Jeff Define ghost dollars and on the cheap.
It does seem like a shame to lose the access especially if the other two Bridges are Opera operational. However, I wouldn’t say it’s because it’s on the cheap. Well other than to say to cheapen Bridgeport ability. Because from my understanding they have 50 million dollars to build a bridge that’s taken over 30 years while it took 3 months to build a bridge that burnt out in Norwalk for 17 million. To your point on a Gold Coast entity to cheap in Bridgeport the scenario seems to be under that wing of assessment. Just saying. JS