Mains Sens. Susan Collins (R) and Angus King (I) sent a letter on Friday to Transportation Department Secretary Anthony Foxx inviting him to visit transportation infrastructure projects that the Maine Department of Transportation identified as candidates for new funding.
The funding would be provided through the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery V discretionary grant program that funds regional and state transportation projects.
The Senators requested Foxx visit the Port of Eastport Breakwater, Howland-Penobscot River Bridge, Sarah Mildred Long Bridge and the Downeaster rail tracks.
The Federal Highway Administration recently reported that 32 percent of Maine’s bridges are deficient. The national average for state deficient bridges is 25 percent.
“It is our hope that you will visit the sites of the projects outlined below,” the Senators said in the letter. “As you will see, these projects are critical to the local, state and regional transportation network. It is essential that we work together to improve Maine’s transportation infrastructure, because so much of my state’s economy relies on these roads and bridges.”
Foxx recently replaced Secretary Ray LaHood in the Transportation Department. Both Collins and King supported his Senate confirmation in May.