New Jersey will get $12.3 billion to jumpstart long-delayed infrastructure projects

New Jersey will be getting billions of dollars to jumpstart some long-delayed road, bridge and rail projects under a bipartisan infrastructure bill that President Joe Biden signed on Monday.

“New Jersey – this is big. This is a big freaking deal,” said Sen. Cory Booker about the plan.

New Jersey will be getting $12.3 billion under the plan. More than half of it is earmarked for highways and roads and more than $1 billion for bridges.

“We have about 284 DOT bridges that are functionally deficient and so we need to look at how we program those bridges in,” said state Transportation Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti.

Gutierrez-Scaccetti said the exact projects have not yet been decided on, but meetings with stakeholders in the community have already started.

“We need to look at tough projects, projects that we haven’t been able to fund because they’ve been big-dollar values,” she said.

The final list doesn’t just include physical infrastructure, but also lead pipe mitigation, environmental cleanup and broadband.

“We are bringing billions and billions of dollars to our state to affect everything the eye can see,” said Booker. “Our roads, our bridges, our lakes, our streams, our rails, our tunnels.”

Gov. Phil Murphy said the funding over the next five years will have an outside impact in the densely populated state.

“We’re the most densely populated state in the United States of America. It’s a game-changer, I think, disproportionally for New Jersey,” he said.

Booker said that this bill is about New Jersey getting its fair share and making life easier for residents.

New Jersey will also receive at least $100 million to increase broadband access.

More from News 12

1:50