Hawaiʻi’s share of the federal infrastructure bill is said to be about $2.8 billion — that's larger than originally expected. The timing of the release of some of the federal money is still unclear, but there aren't any short “use or lose” lead times.
The funds will go toward local infrastructure projects including roads, airports, electric vehicles, and clean energy.
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said this is one of the largest federal investments in infrastructure the state has seen in decades.
"Personally, the thing I’m most excited about is about $160 million for broadband across the state of Hawaiʻi," the senator said. "People need broadband connections to interact with their primary care physicians, people need broadband to talk to their teacher or professor, a lot of times they need broadband just to work, have a meeting."
Schatz said the Department of Hawaiian Homelands will receive $60 million directly in order to provide broadband access to Native Hawaiians.
"Everybody needs broadband in the same way that a long time ago, people needed electrification. And the country set out on a course of rural electrification," Schatz said.
The American Society of Civil Engineers gave Hawaiʻi a D+ on its 2019 infrastructure report card. The country as a whole received a C- in the 2021 report.
Hawaiʻi expects to receive approximately $1.5 billion over five years in federal highway formula funding for highways and bridges, the U.S. Department of Transportation said.
"We think of Kaʻaʻawa, we think of Honoapiʻilani Highway, there are a number of places where there are roads, you know, almost literally falling into the ocean, and that's going to take some resources to either stabilize them or even realign them," Schatz told The Conversation.
Other areas receiving funding include $637.4 million for public transit, $246 million for airports, $200.4 million for water infrastructure, $18 million for electric vehicle systems, and $3 million for clean energy systems, according to the senator's news release.
"We do feel like the timeframe for expending these dollars will, you know, range from anywhere from, say, three to five months from now, to three to five years from now. And that's appropriate because this is supposed to be a five- or 10-year horizon spending bill. So we want the agencies to do the right thing," the senator said.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Nov. 18, 2021.
