Mayor Larson weighs in on federal bipartisan infrastructure bill

Duluth Mayor Emily Larson joined Minnesota mayors and business leaders via zoom Monday to discuss a $1.2 trillion dollar federal bipartisan infrastructure investment plan.

If passed, the plan would be used to invest in roads, bridges, public transit, and passenger rails across the country over the next eight years.

During the meeting, Mayor Larson shared some of her hopes for how money Duluth may receive could be spent.

She said she’d like to continue improving infrastructure like the can of worms, maintain Duluth’s ports and work towards clean energy to combat climate change that she said is seen in rising water levels of Lake Superior.

"Many of the products that we all benefit from come in right through the Port of the city of Duluth. We need to make improvements to ensure that this continue so that people are able to get access to the resources and products that they need,” Larson said.

"I’m hoping that with access to this legislation, we are able to expand deep water shipping channels and uncongested connections to our highways and our roadways,” she added.

The Biden administration has agreed to the infrastructure framework with a bipartisan group of senators, but it has yet to be voted on in the U.S. Senate or U.S. House.