Van Hollen, Cardin, Hoyer, Brown Announce More Than $500,000 to Evaluate Possible Replacement of Two Prince George’s County Bridges

U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin and Congressmen Steny H. Hoyer and Anthony G. Brown (all D-Md.) today announced $560,000 in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for Prince George’s County to evaluate the repair or replacement of two aging bridges. The funding comes through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bridge Investment Program, which was created under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that the lawmakers voted to pass last year.

“The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is already advancing progress on our backlog of bridge repair, replacement, and modernization needs—work that is critically important for ensuring safe travel and flow of commerce in our state,” said the lawmakers. “Prince George’s County, like the rest of the country, has dealt with aging infrastructure challenges, but this historic funding paves a path for us to build a more resilient, stronger foundation for future generations.”

This federal grant for Prince George’s County will be used to evaluate two highway and pedestrian bridges: Cherry Hill Road Bridge over Little Paint Branch and Campus Drive Bridge over Northeast Branch. Both structures, which support public bus routes, have received “poor condition” inspection ratings from the Maryland Department of Transportation for more than a decade. The funding will support the County’s planning work to determine the best way to address the condition of the bridges. Once the planning work is complete, construction on the bridges will be bundled in a joint project.

The Bridge Investment Program will provide $12.5 billion for bridge improvement projects nationally over the next five years. This program is part of a larger, historic investment under the infrastructure law, which has dedicated $40 billion of federal funding for our nation’s bridges. The funding is the biggest investment in the nation’s bridges since the construction of the Interstate Highway System.