By The Star Staff
Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón announced two new federal investments totaling nearly $78.3 million from the federal Department of Transportation (DOT) that will allow for improvements to dock infrastructure and reduce the environmental impact of transportation materials.
“As a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the federal House of Representatives, I have promoted the inclusion of the island in programs and financing that allow the modernization and resilience of our infrastructure to have a solid base for our economic development and attract investment,” González Colón said. “Today we announced two new allocations of federal funds that, while guiding reconstruction, promote environmental protection. I congratulate the agencies that achieved approval of their proposals to use the funds that we made available from Congress.”
The DOT’s Maritime Administration has allocated $53,526,756 of the total $78,287,326 injection to the Ports Authority under the Port Infrastructure Development Program funded by the federal fiscal year 2024 budget. Those funds are intended to reconstruct and modernize Piers D, N, and O at Puerto Nuevo in San Juan, including the demolition and disposal of existing platforms, reconstruction, and installation of new fender and bollard systems.
The island Highway and Transportation Authority, meanwhile, will receive $24,760,570 from the Federal Highway Administration, a DOT agency, under the low-carbon transportation materials grant program funded by the federal fiscal year 2022 budget.
The funds will be used to establish processes for implementing and using low-carbon materials in federally aided construction projects across the island. The uses may include determining the eligibility, availability and suitability of materials for use in eligible construction projects; processes for qualifying and using low-carbon materials; identifying local or regional “substantially lower” embodied carbon thresholds; developing specifications; and placement costs associated with low-carbon materials during construction.
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