WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday will visit an 82-year-old steel bridge in rural New Hampshire that he has held up as one example of how his biggest legislative victory to date will benefit communities.
A day after signing into law the bipartisan deal that will pump billions into shoring up the nation’s roads, bridges, airports and seaports, Biden is scheduled to visit the bridge in the town of Woodstock, which is along state Route 175, and crosses over the Pemigewasset River.
Since 2013, the bridge has been on New Hampshire’s “red list” for state-owned bridges that are “structurally deficient” and require inspections twice a year because of poor conditions. The town is in Grafton County and has a population of just over 1,000, according to the state government.
In his remarks in signing the legislation Monday at the White House, Biden previewed his trip, saying that the bridge in Woodstock is “structurally not safe, like thousands of bridges across America.”
“That’s what this law is all about: keeping communities safer and more efficient,” he said.
Biden’s visit comes after the state’s Republican governor, Chris Sununu, said he would not run for the U.S. Senate. Sununu was a top GOP recruit to take on incumbent Democrat Maggie Hassan, and his decision to instead seek re-election delivered a blow to the party’s hopes of regaining control of the Senate. Polls have found Hassan vulnerable to a strong challenge.
The trip Monday is one in series Biden and other key White House officials plan to make across the country to sell the benefits of the infrastructure law. Biden said he’s going to Detroit on Wednesday to meet with UAW workers who are building the next generation of electric cars.
Biden said that Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, along with first lady Jill Biden and Cabinet officials will be making a similar push.
“This law makes this the most significant investment in roads and bridges in the past 70 years,” Biden said Monday. “It makes the most significant investment in passenger rail in the past 50 years and in public transit ever.”
The infrastructure package includes more than $550 billion in new spending for roads, bridges, transit, water and broadband internet. The bipartisan plan was passed by the Senate in August and by the House this month.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
