Senator convened roundtable with mayors and community leaders connected by State Route 260 to discuss historic infrastructure investments for the region
SHOW LOW – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema hosted a roundtable discussion with mayors and local leaders from Navajo, Gila, and Apache Counties to highlight the historic investments her bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs law makes in Eastern Arizona – specifically increasing investment in roads and bridges, expanding and strengthening public transportation, preventing and mitigating the impacts of wildfires, and securing the state’s water future.
“Today’s roundtable provided another important opportunity to hear from leaders, mayors, and community members in Show Low and Eastern Arizona. My team and I will keep working hand in hand with Arizonans on the ground to get our historic infrastructure investments to the projects that need them in Navajo, Gila, and Apache Counties,” said Sinema, co-author and negotiator of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs law.
The largest investment in highways and bridges in Arizona’s history, Sinema’s infrastructure law authorizes over $969 million in funding to Arizona highways, roads, and bridges—improving safety, and reducing traffic deaths and serious injuries. These investments will create thousands of jobs across the state and connect Arizonans to their schools, health care services, jobs, and more. Sinema’s law additionally provides $110 billion to repair bridges and roads, including unsafe rural roads, and build new major highway projects. In January, Sinema announced $45 million will be heading to Arizona this year from her bipartisan infrastructure law to help repair and replace over 130 bridges in poor condition across the state. This funding is of particular importance to today’s roundtable participants – all of whom live in communities connected by State Road 260.
Sinema’s bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs law makes the strongest investment ever in American public transit with $39.2 billion to expand transit systems, increase accessibility, and fund the nation’s transit system repair backlog, estimated at more than 24,000 buses; 5,000 rail cars; 200 stations; and thousands of miles of track, signals, and power systems—and the biggest investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak. Last week, Sinema and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly announced that $176 million will be invested in Arizona public transportation this year alone from Sinema’s bipartisan infrastructure law, fueling jobs, and creating more economic opportunities.
Earlier this year, Sinema announced a $61 million investment for wildfire prevention in Arizona for 2022 – another key priority for Eastern Arizona mayors and local leaders. The investment is in addition to funding that will come from Sinema’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs law, directly investing in Arizona for the implementation of 4FRI as well as critical recovery and mitigation projects.
In January, Sinema announced that a $82.8 million investment from her bipartisan infrastructure law was coming to Arizona to strengthen water, flood control and environmental infrastructure. Additionally, Sinema announced in January that over $50.5 million will be invested in Arizona in 2022 for critical drought relief measures from her bipartisan infrastructure law. Along with this critical drought funding, Sinema announced Arizona will receive $109 million in 2022 for clean water, drinking water, waste water, and water contaminant remediation infrastructure projects.
Click HERE to learn more about how the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act impacts water systems and drought resilience.
Click HERE to learn more about how the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act impacts Tribal communities.
Click HERE to learn more about how the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act impacts wildfire mitigation.