‘An investment in America’s heartland’: Biden discusses infrastructure improvements in Northern Ky.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - President Joe Biden visited northern Kentucky on Wednesday for the major investment announcement of more than $1.6 billion for the Brent Spence Bridge Project.

Officials have said the Brent Spence Bridge is in desperate need of upgrades.

The bridge is 60 years old and carries about double the amount of traffic it was originally designed to carry.

The biggest part of this project is to build a companion bridge for the Brent Spence Bridge to help ease traffic.

Biden said traffic on I-75 alone carries $2 billion worth of freight per day between Florida and Canada, and the bridge has long surpassed the amount of traffic it was built for.

(Story continues below.)

“We’ve been increasing funding for this new construction law,” Biden said. “To upgrade the current bridge and to build a second new current right next to it for interstate traffic.”

The Brent Spence Corridor is also getting improvements in this deal.

The 8-mile stretch from the Western Hills Viaduct in Ohio to Dixie Highway in Kentucky will be fixed.

With so many cars and trucks crossing over the bridge every day, Gov. Andy Beshear said this project will help the entire country and not just Kentucky and Ohio residents.

“This is a project that multiple presidents have promised, that’s been up in Washington for a long time,” Beshear said. “What it’s going to mean to the northern Kentucky, Cincinnati community, but all of Kentucky, all of Ohio, and all of the country is pretty special. And it’s going to continue this economic job growth that we are seeing that I think is going to continue long after inflation has subsided.”

Biden said the amount of infrastructure improvements being made helps thousands of Americans, whether it be for travel or for the economy.

“All this is about making an investment in America’s heartland and America’s people, America’s future,” Biden said. “It’s about making things in America again. It’s about good jobs. It’s about the dignity of work. It’s about respect. And folks, it’s about damn time we’re doing it.”

The governors of Kentucky and Ohio originally asked for 1.66 billion dollars in federal grant funding, but they final amount is looking like 1.635 billion, which is still a historic amount.

Watch President Biden arrive for the visit below:

Copyright 2023 WAVE. All rights reserved.