Transportation & INFRASTRUCTURE
Keeping RI Moving – Investing in Roads, Ports, and Mass Transit
Our transportation infrastructure is the backbone of our economy, affecting the way we live, work, travel, and do business. In Rhode Island, Senator Reed has championed critical road, highway, bus, rail, airport, and port projects to help improve the state’s aging infrastructure.
Senator Reed serves on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, which controls funding for transportation and infrastructure projects. He has delivered billions of dollars in federal funding to support improvements to our nation’s infrastructure that create jobs and improve daily life for families across Rhode Island. This includes federal funds for RIDOT and RIPTA.
Rhode Island’s roads and bridges need to be proactively maintained, updated, and repaired to help our economy grow. That is why Senator Reed has fought to preserve Rhode Island’s share of federal funding, which currently results in $3.70 from the federal government for every $1 that Rhode Island pays into the transportation trust fund.
KEY PRIORITIES & ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- Led efforts to secure $221 million in federal funding to help fix the Washington Bridge.
- Through his role on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Senator Reed created a new bridge replacement and rehabilitation grant program, delivering nearly $300 million in additional funding for Rhode Island’s bridges since the fund was created.
- Senator Reed worked with the Rhode Island Airport Corporation and the Federal Aviation Administration to provide about $130 million in federal funding to support runway safety and expansion projects at T.F. Green Airport.
- Reed helped secure $32.9 million to expand commuter rail service to North Kingstown, which has helped ease traffic in the southern half of the state and better connect all of Rhode Island.
- To help create jobs and spur economic growth, Reed has helped direct nearly $600 million to develop the Quonset Business Park, including over $190 million to upgrade the Port of Davisville.
- In an effort to expand the state’s freight rail service, create jobs, and grow Rhode Island’s economy, Reed worked for over a decade to secure $55 million to make the Rhode Island Freight Rail Improvement Project (FRIP) a reality.
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Senator Reed also worked to secure more than $50 million to dredge the Providence River to better serve the Port of Providence.