Sanders urges spending on roads, bridges

MONTPELIER – Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said he plans to introduce legislation to authorize a $1 trillion program to rebuild the nation’s crumbling road and bridges and make other investments in infrastructure.

Sanders, who will become ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, says the multi-year program would provide 13 million jobs.

Sanders said Saturday that the country once led the world in building and maintaining a nationwide network of safe and reliable roads and bridges. He says now nearly one-third of America’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition and nearly one-fourth of the 600,000 bridges have been designated as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.

He says the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates it would take $3.6 trillion by 2020 to get the country’s infrastructure to a passable condition.