On Tuesday, August 6, and Wednesday, August 7, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is scheduled to travel to Maine – the 50th state he’s visited as Secretary – to highlight how investments made possible by the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda are strengthening supply chains, supporting rural and tribal communities, and making it easier for people to get to where they need to go.
 
On Tuesday, August 6, Secretary Buttigieg will begin his trip with stops in Freeport where he will tour active construction sites for a project replacing two bridges carrying economically significant local roads over I-295. Built in the 1960s, the existing bridges are deteriorating and no longer meet local capacity, but now thanks to funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, they are being replaced.
 
In Freeport, the Secretary will also join Congresswoman Chellie Pingree and representatives from the White House Domestic Policy Council for an Investing in Rural America event to highlight historic investments across the state and hear from local residents.
 
On Wednesday, August 7, Secretary Buttigieg will start his day with a tour of the Portland International Marine Terminal, which was awarded a $14.2 million grant through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to help modernize operations and improve the efficiency of goods moving through the terminal. For the tour, the Secretary will be joined by Governor Janet Mills and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree.
 
Secretary Buttigieg will close out this leg of his summer of construction tour in East Deering with a news conference that will highlight the progress of Biden-Harris Administration investments across Maine, including a $25-million RAISE grant to transform East Deering’s industrial waterfront into an innovation hub.

The grant will improve multimodal transportation options and safety in the neighborhood while also restoring residents’ access to a section of Maine’s coastline that has been inaccessible for more than a century due to the old B&M Beans factory and the construction of I-295, which bisected the neighborhood. He'll be joined by Governor Janet Mills, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, Portland Mayor Mark Dion, and other state and local leaders.