Wisconsin received $6.9 billion in infrastructure funding

WASHINGTON — The federal government has sent billions of dollars to Wisconsin to improve its infrastructure and develop clean energy sources. The Biden administration said the state has received $6.9 billion in infrastructure funding since President Joe Biden took office. 

“Projects like these will build up the state and will create a relatively high [number] jobs for a relatively lower population in the state,” said Waleed Abu Khader, an adjunct professor at the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

The spending is supporting several major projects, including one billion dollars to replace the Blatnik Bridge between Superior, Wis., and Duluth, Minn., as well as $80 million to improve the Wisconsin River Bridge, a project Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin broke ground on this week. 

Money is coming from several bills that Biden signed into law, including American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). 

“We’re seeing many, many more projects than we would have seen without the IRA,” said Kathy Kuntz, the director of the Dane County Office of Energy and Climate Change.  

Dane County, which includes Madison, is using clean energy tax credits authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act so buildings can be equipped with solar panels and geothermal energy. 

“For stretched local governments, the idea that you can do the right thing in a facility and then get this credit back is just really powerful,” Kuntz said. 

The administration has also awarded Wisconsin with $1.6 billion for high-speed internet, $4 billion for roads, bridges and electric vehicle charging, as well as another $811 million to improve water infrastructure, including replacing toxic lead pipes. That’s an issue both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill can get behind. 

Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, told Spectrum News in a recent interview, “Water is not a partisan issue.” 

“It has an impact on everybody,” said Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee.  

The Biden Administration is also touting another $2.4 billion in private sector dollars, contributed as a result of these laws, to pay for infrastructure and clean energy projects.

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