WASHINGTON — Nationwide supply chain issues are leaving shelves bare and adding delays for deliveries.
The new bipartisan infrastructure package approved by Congress would help prepare this complex system for the next disruption.
Experts say all of these upgrades are way overdue.
In the bill, $110 billion will go to improving roads and bridges, $66 billion for rail systems and another $42 billion for airports and seaports.
“We get the poorest marks, almost of any industrialized or developed nation on the globe in terms of the quality of our bridges, highways, ports, airports. The U.S. the poorest marks,” said Maurice “Mo” Cayer, distinguished lecturer at University of New Haven.
The Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors is a nation organization that advocates for freight infrastructure.
The agency says these investments will help fund a backlog of transportation projects.
For example, improving roads heading to and from ports will help with traffic flow.
The coalition says those changes will likely impact another part of the supply chain crisis which is the shortage in truck drivers.
“If we are able to improve the quality of their workplace, which is the open road, then we have a better chance of retaining and attracting drivers to that industry and short circuiting that that particular issue in the supply chain,” said Elaine Nessle, Executive Director for Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors.
The White House says states will see these improvements over the next five years.
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