Buttigieg views aging Pittsburgh bridges, says it’s time for ‘generational investment’ – By Ed Blazina and Ashley Murray (Pittsburgh Post Gazette) / May 6 2021
Pittsburgh-area officials took U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on a river tour Thursday to highlight the region’s infrastructure needs.
Mr. Buttigieg said he saw crumbling bridges with aprons underneath to catch falling parts and heard about a system of locks and dams that has outlived its expected lifespan by more than 50 years while he was on the Ohio and Allegheny rivers. But he said he also saw a vibrant transportation system with many boats on the rivers, planes flying overhead, the light rail system and many tractor-trailers on the highways.
Together, those images highlight the “challenges and opportunities” the Biden administration’s push for a $2 trillion American Jobs Plan offers to rebuild infrastructure across the country, Mr. Buttigieg said during remarks on a Grandview Avenue observation deck on Mount Washington after the tour.
Mr. Buttigieg’s department is expected to oversee a large part of the jobs program through a proposed $2 trillion in spending on infrastructure. That is expected to include everything from improving roads and bridges to expanding broadband; increasing charging stations for electric vehicles; and replacing diesel school buses and transit buses with electric vehicles.
