Feds announce $400 million for Golden Gate Bridge resiliency projects

California Construction News staff writer

A $400 million federal grant was announced last week for earthquake resiliency on the Golden Gate Bridge.

“There is only one Golden Gate Bridge, and we are going to protect it,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Jan. 23 at an event announcing the funding.

Improvements are needed in the structural elements of the bridge – a vital link for supply chains including waterborne freight at the Port of Oakland.

It’s one of four bridge projects receiving a total of $2 billion in federal infrastructure investment funds – a competition that saw 40 bridge refurbishment worth $11 billion in federal dollars. Winning projects were chosen for regional importance and being an essential part of moving goods in the national supply chain.

Federal funds will pay for work on the Golden Gate to make it safer and better able to withstand seismic threats from earthquakes including installing 40 energy dissipation devices, retrofitting the towers and strengthen the bracing and floor beams, Buttigieg said.

Improvements will ensure the structural integrity of this vital transportation link for moving people and freight along the California coast.

“You can’t have strong national security if you don’t have economic security, and you can’t have either one of those things if we don’t have really good, strong infrastructure because that is the rock upon which the rest of it is built,” Landrieu said.

Large project grants are available for structures with total eligible costs over $100 million, with minimum grant awards of $50 million and maximum grants for up to 50% of the total eligible project costs.