Sen. Susan Collins (R) announced Monday that Maine will be receiving a combined $65 million for two rural infrastructure projects through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Competitive Highway Bridge Program (CHBP).
This represents an outsized portion, roughly equal to 16 percent, of the $408 million being awarded in total through the program.
Nearly $39 million of this will be going towards the replacement of 11 state-owned bridges across rural central Maine, while the remaining $26 million will be used to replace the bridge decks on four state-owned bridges along Interstate 95 (I-95) in Penobscot County.
“Growing up in Caribou,” said Sen. Collins in a statement Monday, “I have always been acutely aware of the unique challenges facing our rural communities and determined to find solutions.”
“That is why I was proud to work with my colleagues to create this program to replace aging bridges in rural communities across Maine and the nation,” Collins said. “There is no reason Mainers should have to continue using bridges that are in poor condition and have exceeded their original design service life.”
“These new bridges will help improve safety, support good-paying jobs, and better connect rural Mainers to the rest of the state,” she added.
Click Here to Read Sen. Collins’ Full Press Release
Collins and Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) spearheaded the creation of this fund in 2018 as leaders on the Senate Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee.
Ahh, election season. The smell of tax money buying votes is in the air.
Thank you. . Susan ….helped create the Competitive Highway Bridge Program back in 2018, so that’s about eight years of steady work securing and directing that funding. 
Maine’s snagging 16% of the national pot shows it’s paid off—her focus on rural bridges since at least then has been consistent. Those bridges are old, some over 50 years past their design life, so this matters.!!!
Ruth DesRoches: It only maters if Czarina Mills and co. don’t find a way to put in the hands of her brother or the “new mainers”.