A few weeks ago president Biden released his American Jobs Plan to make the infrastructure better and get Americans back to work. The price tag for this plan is nearly 2.3 trillion dollars. While this is being negotiated in Congress to try and get this passed President Biden said he is willing to negotiate, but he’s not going to do nothing to fix our infrastructure.
The White House released a state by state plan that highlights what needs to be done in all 50 states including the District of Columbia. The fact sheets highlight how many roads and bridges need repairs, the percentage of those without broadband internet and many other things.
In this article we are going to focus specifically on the state of Alabama and what needs to be done in the state to make it better. When looking at the overall infrastructure it earned a C- minus from the infrastructure report card.
In accordance with the fact sheet released by the White House, Alabama has 620 bridges and 2,950 miles of highway that need to be repaired. Since the year 2011, commute time for Alabama residents has gone up 8.9%, and residents on average spend 434 dollars in repairs from driving on the roads of Alabama.
Public transportation is included in the infrastructure bill. According to the fact sheet, residents spend 66.2% more time in transportation, and in non white households public transportation is 4.5 times more likely. 25% of the state’s trains and public vehicles have passed usable life.
In the last 10 years Alabama has experienced 38 extreme weather storms, costing the state over 20 billion dollars in damages. To make clean drinking water in the next 20 years it will cost the state 11.3 billion dollars.
Broadband internet is a huge part of the infrastructure bill. 16.8% of Alabamians don’t have reliable broadband internet. 55.4% of Alabamians live in an area where there’s only one internet company available. Even areas where broadband internet is available, 18.4% of the population may not be able to afford it.
Alabama has a shortage of housing which causes over 260,000 people to be renters and be rent burdened, meaning that more than 30% of their income is going to rent. Along with this, Alabama residents spend 10–12% of their income on electricity on average.
Childcare is another topic discussed in the American Jobs Plan. According to the facts sheet, there is an estimated 299 billion dollar gap between what schools have for maintenance and repairs and the actual amount of money needed. 60% of Alabama residents live where childcare is not available to them.
In the state of Alabama, 17% makes up the state’s manufacturing and employees about 271,000. this comes out to be 13% of the state’s workforce. In the year 2019 there were 43,828 Alabama residents working in the clean energy field. Alabama is home to over 370,000 veterans: 10.6% of them being women, and 43.5% are over the age of 65 years old.
To see what is exactly in the bill and how much money is in each section, listen to this episode of Blind Boys Politics.
