Infrastructure Insights: November 2021

Greetings Alliance Members – 🦃 Wishing you and yours all the best in this Thanksgiving season.

🥂And here’s to exciting developments in the coming months. As everyone knows by now, the infrastructure bill was signed into law last week. Full implementation of it will be a years-long process but we will begin seeing some benefits of it in Georgia soon. We will continue to make relevant information available.

Go deeper: Scroll down for more info and details on what’s new.

Roads. Bridges. Broadband. Public Transportation. Ports. Electric Vehicles. Climate Change. Here is the best summary of what’s in store for Georgia from the infrastructure bill, compiled from the White House and the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

Roads and Bridges
Georgia should expect to receive $9.2 billion over five years in federal highway formula funding for highways and bridges. On an average annual basis, this is about 27.2% more than the State’s Federal-aid highway formula funding under current law. Georgia can also compete for the $12.5 billion Bridge Investment Program for economically significant bridges and $15 billion of national funding in the law dedicated to megaprojects that will deliver substantial economic benefits to communities.

Georgia can also expect to receive $211 million over five years in formula funding to reduce transportation-related emissions, in addition to about $240 million over five years to increase the resilience of its transportation system.

More than 2,260 miles of highway across Georgia are categorized as in poor condition. The state also has 374 bridges that have been deemed “structurally deficient,” including the I-75 span over Swamp Creek in Whitfield County that has more than 66,000 daily crossings.

Broadband
Every state is receiving $100 million to increase broadband access, and billions more will be divided up among the states according to a formula that is based upon the number of people who don’t have reliable internet.

Why it matters: The money is to be used to address both the lack of affordable internet options, which is usually a barrier in poorer neighborhoods, and the lack of connectivity, which affects rural areas.

The White House says 15% of Georgia households do not have an internet subscription, and 6% of Georgians live in areas where the Federal Communications Commission has determined broadband is not available.

Public Transportation
Based on formula funding alone, Georgia would expect to receive about $1.5 billion over five years under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to improve public transportation options across the state. In the first year, this represents about a 37% increase over 2021 FAST Act formula transit funding levels.

Georgians who take public transportation spend an extra 74.1% of their time commuting and non-White households are 3.9 times more likely to commute via public transportation. 7.3% of transit vehicles in the state are past useful life.

Airports
Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, airports in Georgia would receive $619 million for infrastructure development for airports over five years. This funding will address airside and landside needs at airports, such as improving runways, taxiways and airport-owned towers, terminal development projects, and noise reduction projects. In addition, $5 billion in discretionary funding is available over five years for airport terminal development projects that address aging airport infrastructure, expand accessibility for persons with disabilities, improve access for historically disadvantaged populations, improve energy efficiency, and airfield safety.

Ports
The Port of Savannah is getting $8 million to help convert five existing facilities into container yards.These “pop-up yards” will be used to reduce congestion on the docks at the port, an on-shore bottleneck in the supply chain leading from Asian factories to the manufacturers and retailers in America. That congestion — recently more than 80,000 containers were stacked at the Port of Savannah — slows deliveries and raises costs.

Savannah, the second-largest port on the east coast, has added nearly 400 workers in the past year, expanding its workforce to about 1,520. The Georgia Ports Authority also has other massive projects underway that will add to the port’s overall capacity.

Electric Vehicles / Climate Change
Georgia should expect to receive about $135 million over five years to support the expansion of an EV charging network in the state. Georgia will also have the opportunity to apply for grants out of the $2.5 billion available for EV charging.

More than $50 billion in the bill is also earmarked to help communities adapt to the threats posed by climate change — such as rising sea levels and more damaging storms — that are wreaking havoc on Georgia’s coast. It also includes more than $65 billion to bolster electric grids across the country, which are experiencing longer and more frequent outages.

The Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank (GTIB) is a grant and low-interest loan program administered by the State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA). Since inception, GTIB has provided more than $165 million in grants and loans for highly competitive transportation projects that have enhanced mobility and driven economic development in local communities throughout Georgia.

Why it matters: Only local, regional, and state governmental entities (including CIDs) can submit applications. For those who cannot apply but can do the work, it makes sense to keep an eye out for what entities that do apply.

Here’s What’s New for 2021:

SRTA will accept grant applications and loan applications (combined loan/grant applications will also be accepted)

Preferred application projects are those that:

• Provide clear economic development benefits

• Will be completed in the near-term as a result of GTIB investment

• Have significant matching funds

Eligible costs are those related to preliminary engineering, traffic and revenue studies, environmental studies, right-of-way acquisition.

For more → www.srta.ga.gov/gtib/#1631806082864-f3b55917-2dff

Prior to passage of this bill, the Minority Business Development Agency was not a permanent entity in the federal government. That is now rectified. This action allows the agency to increase their programs and outreach to the nation’s more than 9 million minority-owned businesses.

Specifically, the Act:

• Creates a presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed Under Secretary of Commerce for Minority Business Development to lead the agency.

• Increases the MBDA’s grant-making capacity to partner with community and national nonprofits engaged in private and public sector development as well as research.

• Mandates the creation of the Parren J. Mitchel Entrepreneurship Education Grants Program to cultivate the next generation of minority entrepreneurs on the campuses HBCUs and MSIs across the Nation.

• Creates a council to advise the Under Secretary on supporting MBEs; and

• Authorizes the under secretary to coordinate federal MBE programs.

Very relevant article → www.nytimes.com/2021/11/16/us/politics/racial-equity-states-government.html