President Barack Obama proposed a major infrastructure plan in Saint Paul, Minn., yesterday, finally addressing the United States’s aging roads and bridges. The president’s proposal is a four-year, $302-billion initiative that will receive its revenue from closing tax loopholes, a measure both parties can support. But more than fixing roads, the undertaking crucially creates jobs. This proposal is a less-than-subtle method from the White House to usher in a new wave of stimulus through a program which gives the promise of tangible results.

The state of America’s infrastructure is so bad that of the country’s 607,000 bridges, over 65,000 are “structurally deficient.” More simply, one in every nine bridges needs significant repair. This deficiency is largely because most bridges were built decades ago and have outlived their expected lifespan. While the bridges are not near collapse, they are in need of dire repair and are evidence of the poor state of American infrastructure.

Without immediate action, the United States’s infrastructure will fall behind that of other developed nations. The United States is home to some of the worst traffic congestion in the world and has a road fatality rate 60 percent higher than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average. The investment in infrastructure will help fix the structural rigidity of roads and bridges and improve traffic congestion across the nation.

In the original stimulus bill of 2009, the Obama administration created a new program within the Department for Transport — the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, known as TIGER, which allows the DoT to fund a range of capital infrastructure projects. The program has been a notable success for the White House, with $3.5 billion spent across 270 infrastructure projects in all 50 states. Obama’s announcement yesterday that a further $600 million would be given to the TIGER program demonstrates the high regard the Administration has for this initiative. TIGER grants are able to fund a broad spectrum of infrastructure projects at both the local and state level that are not eligible for other forms of federal funding.

Crumbling roads and unstable bridges are the new norm across the nation. Obama’s announcement yesterday quietly ushers in a new wave of stimulus for the nation’s decrepit infrastructure. This advancement is a relief for state budgets that are reticent to spend on expensive, long-term infrastructure projects when more immediate demands require attention. Moreover, this is a welcomed announcement from Obama, using the bully pulpit to refocus the nation toward the decaying roads and bridges which they traverse each day.

A version of this article appeared in the Thursday, Feb. 27 print edition. Email the WSN Editorial Board at [email protected].