SUPERIOR, Wis. — President Joe Biden was back in the Badger State on Thursday — this time to highlight $5 billion in funding for major transportation projects across the country, including the Blatnik Bridge over the St. Louis River which joins Wisconsin and Minnesota together.
With more than $1 billion in federal funding awarded to the Wisconsin and Minnesota Departments of Transportation, the president pointed to the financial support as an example of “promises made, promises kept.”
“For decades, people talked about replacing this bridge, but it never got done until today,” Biden told the crowd gathered at the Earth Rider Brewery in Superior, Wis.
Two years ago, Biden got a close-up look at the Blatnik and called it “one of the most important bridges” in the region. Thursday, he was back to highlight what has been hailed as a down payment on the future.
“This bridge is important, but the story we’re writing is much bigger than that,” Biden explained. “When you see the shovels in the ground and cranes in the sky, and people hard at work on these projects, I hope you feel a renewed sense of pride.”
The investment is especially important to local leaders, including Mark Liebaert, who serves as chair of the Douglas County Board of Supervisors.
“This is our lifeblood,” Liebaert said. “The medical community is mostly in Minnesota, the hospitals and clinics are over there, so citizens in northern Wisconsin, who are traveling to those clinics are relying on that bridge. If it [were] to close because it was damaged and we didn’t have a plan in place already to replace it, I mean it would be devastating I think to the community.”
The Blatnik Bridge between Superior, Wis., and Duluth, Minn., opened in 1961 and has about 33,000 vehicles traveling across it daily.
That is why states are sharing the costs too, with Wisconsin and Minnesota each putting $400 million toward the build.
“It’s super important. I know Representative Sapik and I worked very hard on our end, at the state level, to make sure Joint Finance makes it a priority, and they did,” State Sen. Romaine Quinn, R-Cameron, whose district includes Superior, explained. “And I know we worked closely with our partners in Minnesota, and now federally, to obtain all the funding necessary to come together and put those pieces together.”
For lawmakers, the project is a bit poetic as it symbolizes “bridging” a political divide.
“Without Joe Biden, frankly, this wouldn’t happen,” Gov. Tony Evers said during Thursday’s presidential visit. “This would not have happened without Biden.”
Design work on the bridge will likely happen as soon as this year, and if the planning phases stay on schedule, construction could begin in 2025.