By SANDRA BRAND
NEA Town Courier Editor
“America’s River Crossing” will soon connect the states of Arkansas and Tennessee.
Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9), a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, announced Friday that the Tennessee and Arkansas Departments of Transportation were successful in securing $393,750,000 in federal funding for a new Interstate 55 Bridge over the Mississippi River at Memphis to be known as “America’s River Crossing”.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee stated the Arkansas and Tennessee Department of Transportation have also committed $250,000,000 each to the construction of the new bridge.
The total cost of the project will be nearly $1 billion.
“I’m proud to have worked with the President, the U.S. Department of Transportation, as well as the outstanding team in Memphis and the governor’s office in successfully getting this extremely large and necessary grant for the construction of the new bridge. As President Biden would say, ‘This is a big…deal!’ And it sure is: Probably the biggest investment made in Memphis by the federal government ever,” said Congressman Cohen.
Memphis Mayor Paul Young said, ““This historic investment in Memphis will help further connect our community with the region and the world. Memphis’ prominence as a logistics hub is made stronger by the investment in this key piece of infrastructure and we are honored by the grant.”
The state of Tennessee projects that by 2050, the new bridge will accommodate 64,000 vehicles per day. Currently, nearly 48,000 cross the old bridge on a daily basis.