The US House of Representatives continues work on a pair of infrastructure bills, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Build Back Better act. Congresswoman Cindy Axne says the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act handles what people might think of traditional infrastructure, which she says Iowa is in dire need of safety upgrades.

“We are bottom of the barrel when it comes to the structural deficiencies of our bridges, we have 4,571 bridges in poor condition. We literally have schools who have to take kids on different routes so they don’t have to go over a bad bridge. This is crazy. So we have $432 million in bridge replacements and repairs, and $3.4 billion in highway aid to address the 430 miles of highway in Iowa that are in poor condition.”

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has passed both houses of congress and was signed by President Joe Biden on Monday, and Congresswoman Axne says they are still working on the Build Back Better legislation.