FACT SHEET: Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal Will Uplift Rural Communities Across Georgia

Georgians sent President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to the White House to bring people together and get things done. Now, with President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill advancing to a final vote in Congress, the President is delivering on his promise to build back better in every Georgia community. 

Supported by a bipartisan group of senators, the Biden-Harris administration’s historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill will make life better for millions of Georgians by creating a generation of good-paying union jobs, stimulating economic growth, and positioning Georgia and the United States to win in the 21st century – all without raising taxes a cent for earners below $400,000.

President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill makes critical investments in:

HIGHWAYS

• With no interstate route connecting Columbus to Augusta, many rural communities across Middle Georgia have been left behind from the economic development other areas with highways have seen over the years. Today, the I-14 corridor that would connect the Chattahoochee Valley and Augusta-Richmond County has been in the works for more than a decade.

• The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill will designate Interstate 14 as a “high priority corridor,” invest $110 billion of new funds for roads, bridges, and major projects, and reauthorize the surface transportation program for the next five years. 

BROADBAND

• More than 507,000 Georgia homes and businesses still do not have access to high-speed internet, and 70% of those are in rural areas. In Georgia school systems with fewer than 1,000 students, 56% of households do not have high speed internet available.

• The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill will allocate a minimum of $100 million to help provide broadband coverage across the state.
• 31% of Georgians will be eligible for the Affordability Connectivity Benefit, which will help low-income families afford internet access.

TRANSIT

• A lack of public transportation contributes directly to health and economic disparities in rural Georgia communities. Georgians in 118 rural counties are served by sixty-five small transit operations that provide mostly on-call van services, rather than fixed-route buses.
• The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill will dedicate $1.4 billion to Georgia over five years to improve public transportation options across the state, based on formula funding.

###