Buttigieg tours East Lansing infrastructure project

FRIDAY, Sept. 6 — U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joined Lansing Mayor Andy Schor and U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin in donning construction vests today to tour one of Greater Lansing’s latest infrastructure projects. 

Standing on top of a hill at an Interstate-127/Interstate-496 bridge construction site off Trowbridge Road in East Lansing, the trio touted the Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act as two important keys to unlocking a bevy of similar projects throughout Michigan.  

Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and a 2020 presidential candidate, was part of the Biden-Harris administration’s Investing in America Tour.

“It sure would have been nice back then, when I was mayor, if there was a bipartisan infrastructure law that delivered a trillion dollars in investments across American cities like South Bend, Indiana, cities like Lansing, and communities across the Midwest and the country,” Buttigieg said.

“That day has come,” he added. “As mayors like Mayor Schor look at their vision for a growing economy and a safer community and better transportation systems, that's no longer just ideas on the drawing board. It's turning into reality because the funding is finally here.”

Buttigieg chats with union workers in East Lansing.

Some of those funds were funneled into the $8 million bridge replacement project Buttigieg was there to highlight. Work on the overarching I-96 and I-496 rebuild project is estimated to cost $205 million. The state is paying 70% of the tab, most of which is sourced from bond sales associated with Gov. Whitmer’s Rebuilding Michigan program. The federal government is picking up the remaining 30%.

Slotkin and her peers in Congress played a key role in delivering those dollars, Buttigieg said.

Work continues at the I-127/I-496 bridge construction site off Trowbridge Road in East Lansing.

“Let us remember that the political obituary of this legislation was written half a dozen times by Washington commentators. It was far from certain that this infrastructure plan would become a reality,” Buttigieg said. “Indeed, the previous administration promised to deliver one and failed. So, this isn't something that just happens on its own. It happens when you have the right kind of leadership.”

Slotkin, who is running for the U.S. Senate, said her work across the aisle through the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, which includes 31 Democrats and 31 Republicans, was pivotal in getting the infrastructure bill across the finish line.

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin outlines how Congress came to pass the bipartisan infrastructure law in 2021.

“You sign a civility pledge, and you don't campaign against each other. This is important, because the framework for the bill came out of that group. We sat together, with no Twitter and no media, and hammered out a framework in the spring of 2021. We had a good, healthy debate, and in November of 2021, we passed that legislation,” Slotkin said.

Slotkin, who represents Greater Lansing, noted that the project is one of 600 in Michigan that stemmed from the bipartisan infrastructure law. So far, Michigan has gained $7 billion in funding through that effort, though she expects that to “top off at about $10 billion” when all is said and done.

“That investment is going to pay dividends for generations. Folks in Washington have been talking about getting infrastructure done. This is the concrete, living example of how it actually materializes. It's not always the sexiest thing to work hard across a bipartisan approach, but it works, and it makes sense, and that's what we need to get back to,” Slotkin said.