Biden heads to swing state Wisconsin to announce investment to replace bridge

President Biden is heading to Wisconsin on Thursday to announce that the administration will invest nearly $5 billion in new infrastructure projects, including $1 billion in the battleground state alone.

Biden will make the announcement in Superior. He won Wisconsin in 2020, beating former President Trump. 

The $4.9 billion will include $1 billion to replace the Blatnik Bridge, which connects Wisconsin and Minnesota. Biden visited the bridge in March 2022 and at the time said that it was the type of infrastructure that he wants to rebuild with the bipartisan infrastructure act, which he signed into law in November 2021.

The visit to the key battleground state comes as Biden’s reelection campaign has signaled it is shifting its focus on the general election. Recent polls show mixed signs for Biden in Wisconsin, with a Marquette Law School poll in November giving him a 2-point lead over Trump and a Morning Consult and Bloomberg News poll in December showing Biden trailing Trump in seven swing states including Wisconsin.

Overall, the investments will help build 37 project across the country, including in Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Georgia. The bipartisan infrastructure law has led to 40,000 infrastructure projects across the country so far, according to senior administration officials.

The projects also include $600 million to replace the 1-5 Bridge that links Oregon and Washington and $427 million to establish the first offshore wind terminal on the Pacific Coast.

Additionally, $327 million will replace the Sagamore Bridge in Cape Cod, Mass., and $300 will construct a new container terminal for the Port of New Orleans.

The new projects “are really going to be the next generation of the cathedrals of American infrastructure that will shape regions and the whole country and our economy for the better,” Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg told reporters on Wednesday.