A new Peace Bridge has apparently made the Trump Administration's national priority list for infrastructure projects.
The new president has promised a trillion-dollar public-private infrastructure investment. It appears an administration source has leaked a list of the first 50 projects in line for funding, with the Peace Bridge sitting at number 27. The list also includes two expensive projects in the president's home town, New York City, a major subway extension and new rail tunnels under the Hudson River.
Altogether, the projects total $137 billion.
The Peace Bridge project is listed to cost $700 million, half paid by Washington and the rest from private sources.
"This is good for the good that it does relative to tourism, relative to commerce but also in underscoring the importance of manufacturing in Western New York and our important inter-connected relationship with Oakville, Ontario," said Congressman Brian Higgins, citing the connection between the auto manufacturing operations in Ontario and Western New York.
"We know that the Peace Bridge expansion has been a project in Buffalo and Western New York for the past 30 years. The problem is we haven't moved beyond the concept of it," Higgins said.
"This presents a major opportunity to finally fund nationally an infrastructure bill that can fully fund a project of this nature."
Higgins says the infrastructure program has to come through his Ways and Means Committee and he will be pushing hard for the overall effort.
