Press release
Example Agency announces $1.2 billion for rural bridge repair
Grants to 43 states will replace or rehabilitate 284 bridges in poor condition, with a set-aside for counties under 50,000 people.
- Contact
- Office of Public Affairs, 555-010-4570
- Release number
- Agency 42-26
- Date
- Docket
- Highway Office-2026-0012
WASHINGTON – The Example Agency's Office of Highways today announced $1.2 billion in Bridge Investment Program grants to 43 states for 284 bridges rated in poor condition. Two hundred of the bridges are owned by counties, towns or tribal governments, and 61 of them are currently closed or load-posted.
"A bridge that is closed is not a transportation asset. It is a detour, and the detour is paid for every day by the people who live on the wrong side of it," said the Secretary. "These grants go to the bridges that carry school buses, grain trucks and ambulances, in the places least able to pay for them alone."
The awards include $340 million under the program's set-aside for bridges owned by counties, tribes and communities under 50,000 people, which may be funded at up to 100 percent federal share. The largest single award, $96 million, goes to the replacement of the Route 9 crossing of the Kennebec River in Maine, closed since 2024.
Selected awards
- Maine: $96 million to replace the Route 9 Kennebec River bridge
- Ohio: $71 million for 19 county bridges in the Appalachian region
- Montana: $44 million for six bridges on the Crow Reservation
- Texas: $38 million to rehabilitate the Brazos River crossing on FM 1462
The full list of awards, by state, is attached. Applications for the fiscal year 2027 round open in January.
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