Congress passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Maintenance Act Tuesday with strong support from both chambers, approving a $90 billion, five-year emergency investment in the nation’s aging bridge network that transportation analysts say represents the single largest dedicated federal bridge investment in American history and one that will have significant near-term implications for Michigan, which ranks among the top ten states with the highest number of structurally deficient spans.

The bill passed the Senate 72-28 and the House 291-142, with members from both parties citing the catastrophic 2024 collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore as a galvanizing moment that demonstrated the urgency of addressing deferred maintenance across the country’s roughly 45,000 structurally deficient bridges.

Michigan is expected to receive approximately $2.8 billion from the legislation over the five-year period, according to the Federal Highway Administration’s preliminary allocation formula. MDOT officials said Monday that the state had already identified 127 high-priority bridges for rehabilitation or replacement that would be eligible for expedited funding under the new program’s fast-track provisions.

“Michigan families shouldn’t have to wonder whether the bridge they’re crossing is safe,” said Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, who co-sponsored the bill. “This legislation ensures that we are finally treating our infrastructure with the seriousness and urgency it deserves.”

The legislation includes a provision specifically targeting bridges in Great Lakes states that are subject to accelerated deterioration from freeze-thaw cycles, winter road salt application, and heavy freight traffic — conditions that disproportionately affect Michigan’s road network. States meeting these criteria are eligible for a 15 percent supplemental funding match from the federal government.

Transportation engineers who testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee during the bill’s development said the U.S. faces an estimated $125 billion maintenance backlog on its bridge inventory and that the deterioration rate has been accelerating in cold-weather states since 2015. The legislation also creates a new national bridge inspection database that will be publicly searchable by 2027.

President Biden signed the legislation into law Wednesday afternoon at a White House ceremony attended by bipartisan members of Congress and representatives from state transportation departments across the country.