Pete Buttigieg talks about Philly Shipyard, SEPTA, repairing local bridges in CBS Philadelphia interview
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was in Philadelphia for Monday's christening of the Patriot State, a new training ship built at the Philadelphia Shipyard.
In 2021, the shipyard received a $1.5 billion contract to create four of the Maritime academy vessels. Now another one is ready to hit the high seas.
On Tuesday, Buttigieg stopped by CBS News Philadelphia to share more about the event and answer anchor Jim Donovan's questions about other topics impacting Philadelphians and Pennsylvanians.
Jim: Patriot State was built right here in Philadelphia. Why is that so significant?
Buttigieg: Well, we're really proud of these vessels. They're called NSMVs, national security multi-mission vessels. Day-to-day, their mission is training.
This is a part of our department maybe not everybody knows about, but we have a Merchant Marine academy, and then we have several academies out around the country that train the next generation of Merchant Mariners.
This vessel is something that they will use day to day to become qualified to be part of this vitally important engine of America's economy, which is our maritime trade. But they also have a second purpose: they have been set up with and onboard clinic and other facilities so that in an emergency, they can be deployed for humanitarian assistance or disaster relief.
These updated class of ships, not even a class, a collection of ships we've had, some of which are more than half a century old, and this project of replacing them has generated so many jobs right here in Philadelphia. Really proud to see how the Philadelphia shipyard has come back, about 1,400 jobs associated just with producing these vessels, and something that I think Philly is rightfully very proud of.
Jim: Let's pivot to infrastructure. Pennsylvania is one of the top states for deficient bridges. What is the federal government doing to address the situation?
Buttigieg: When the Biden-Harris Administration arrived, we knew immediately that we needed to have a new level of funding for America's infrastructure, especially when it comes to the condition of our roads and bridges. And Pennsylvania's really ground zero for the need to update bridges, from some of the biggest, iconic bridges in the country to rural bridges that most people will never have heard of.
But when they go out of service, if there is a load limit because it's in poor condition, that can mean somebody has to go half an hour or more out of their way, it affects our supply chains as well as daily commutes. So we changed all of that with the president's bipartisan infrastructure law. Instead of the condition of our bridges getting worse each passing year, now we're making investments at a level that hasn't happened since before I was born. Much of that is coming to Philadelphia.
In fact, there's a reason we announced the Bridge Formula Program right here in Philadelphia. Progress underway on the MLK Bridge, for example, just to take one. But we have 10,000 bridges across the country getting improvements.
Jim: Is the federal government in any position to assist SEPTA? Because so many commuters here rely on it.
Buttigieg: Another feature of the bipartisan infrastructure law is the most federal funding that has ever been put together for transit, and that includes over $300 million that's going to help SEPTA acquire new rail cars that are very much needed. Riders already know that.
We're also doing upgrades and improvements on stations. A lot of SEPTA stations were built before the Americans with Disabilities Act, which means that they're not accessible. We're investing to help change that.
We partner with every transit agency to try to make sure they're better able to serve people. Transit is a key part of the future of transportation, so many people count on it. We're very pro-transit and one thing I point out is even if you don't use it, you benefit when others do, because it means less congestion on our roads.
