The infrastructure bill is massive, and the interdependencies within it are important to grasp and optimize. For example, access to high-speed broadband, both fiber and 5G wireless, impacts nearly every other category of earmarked investments.
Broadband for all comes with one of the most significant investments, including:
- $108 billion going into the nation’s electricity grid.
- Thousands of miles of new transmission lines.
- Replacing aging components.
- Funding for the development and implementation of smart-grid technology.
Electric cars, buses, and ferries will get a boost from the $7.5 billion associated with the nation’s first network of electric-vehicle chargers along highway corridors – with $5 billion for zero-emission buses (including thousands of electric school buses) and $2.5 billion for ferries.
Cleaning up and securing our water supply is also a priority, especially after water-supply crises in cities like Flint, Michigan. $55 billion has been set aside to replace all the nation’s lead pipes and service lines – a historic investment in ensuring clean drinking water is accessible anywhere in the world.
More than $50 billion in the bill is for water infrastructure improvements, with $1 billion slated to go toward the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a sweeping clean-up measure targeting toxic hot spots, including areas plagued by heavy industrial pollution, around the Great Lakes region.
Another $25 billion is to help modernize America’s airports, plus an additional $11 billion in transportation safety programs, including a new program to help states and localities reduce crashes and fatalities.
More projects are in the bill, and every project is an opportunity for industrial companies to innovate and contribute modern solutions. Innovations where software and sensors, connected to secure networks, make monitoring and maintaining new infrastructure possible – extend that infrastructure’s life and provide critical data for the planning of future improvements.
Despite its bipartisan support, the sweeping infrastructure proposal faced stiff opposition from all parties until they agreed on a significantly smaller bill. The Biden Administration’s separate Build Back Better budget proposal will be in play when Congress is back in session. Additional programs that can benefit businesses and society are poised to emerge somehow with investments that will generate new jobs and opportunities for communities left behind for some time.
However, this pans out, it will take ongoing cooperation between the public and private sectors and industrial-strength innovation to optimize every opportunity.
As we at The Frontier Hub continue to build an online community for education and inspiration of industrial innovation, our writing staff, contributors, and columnists will develop more groundbreaking content – both in small towns and big cities across the globe. If your organization has a story to share, please contact our Editor-in-Chief, Kalisa Moore. We want to hear from you.
Today, Dec. 2, we celebrate The Frontier Hub’s one-month anniversary since its launch last month. This new media platform – while yet still new – is rapidly growing. We partner with industry experts to bring you high-quality content from analysts, contributors, and innovative thought leaders all whom. As a community with a shared passion for innovation, we strive to meet the needs of and connect to our readers and enhance community engagement, promotion, and content development.
With that said, we are incredibly proud to have successfully hosted a virtual conference this past spring and launched our media platform. We could not have done it without the support of our team, partners, and global community. We appreciate you.
May you, your friends, families, and communities have a healthy and prosperous holiday season. Cheers in advance to an exciting 2022!
Onward and upward,
