Kamala Harris is the latest member of the Biden administration to visit I-95
For the Biden administration, I-95′s rebuild is the perfect encapsulation of government-funded union construction work fixing something tangible that thousands of people use every day.
I-95 in Philadelphia is becoming a favorite photo op for President Joe Biden’s administration — and an emblem of his reelection campaign.
Vice President Kamala Harris toured the construction site of a new ramp to connect Interstate 95 to the Betsy Ross Bridge Tuesday afternoon, visiting laborers working on the project, many of whom also worked to fix the portion of the roadway that collapsed after a fatal tanker truck fire in June.
”You guys are doing extraordinary work,” she told the workers, some wearing blue I-95 T-shirts.
The visit followed an announcement at the Finishing Trades Institute that the administration will increase minimum wages for some construction workers. She brought up the I-95 rebuild during her remarks there.
“Folks on TV were saying, ‘Oh, that repair can take months. These workers did it in 12 days!” Harris said, getting some of her biggest applause of the day.
For Biden’s administration, the story of I-95 and its quick-turn reopening — funded largely by the bipartisan infrastructure bill — is a perfect campaign trail anecdote in a critical swing state. Biden is focusing his reelection pitch in part on the thousands of projects the infrastructure bill is slated to fund. As many of those projects remain in their early stages, I-95 is an early example of government-funded union construction work producing something tangible and impactful.
At the ramp build site on Tuesday, which is also being funded by the bipartisan infrastructure bill, Harris commended the workers and said the administration is “investing in America’s businesses, America’s workforce, its union workforce.” She also posed for photos with workers and Robert and William Buckley of Buckley & Company, which is overseeing the ramp project and the I-95 rebuild.
A nice view of the Philly skyline was visible from the site, during which I-95 southbound near the overpass was closed to traffic.
Harris visited I-95 with Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su, and they were the third and fourth high-ranking members of the administration to visit the highway in Northeast Philadelphia this summer. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was there shortly after the collapse in June.
Biden toured the collapse site by helicopter in June and has touted the speedy work getting the collapsed highway reopened — and the federal funding that assisted — every chance he gets. The announcement that the highway would reopen after just two weeks came the day of Biden’s visit — among signs that said “President Joe Biden Rebuilding I-95.″
“When I-95 shut down last month, nobody thought we’d have it back open in less than two weeks,” Biden told a crowd of union workers at a visit to Philly Shipyard July 20. “Well, with American ingenuity, American workers, we proved everybody wrong. I don’t know about you, but it filled me with pride of what we can do when we work together.”
The administration has tried to run on “Bidenomics,” a catch-all for Biden’s economic agenda, which he argues has boosted the economy amid increases in manufacturing and infrastructure jobs. But Americans have been slow to connect Biden to economic improvements, and with many of the thousands of infrastructure projects in early stages, few projects will have as big of an immediate impact as reopening I-95.
The city rallied around the I-95 rebuild, watching livestreams of its construction and marking its reopening with a mascot parade. And with the permanent highway still under construction, opportunities for politicians to tap into the enthusiasm around the rebuild will be ongoing. On Monday, Shapiro signed steel beams destined for the roadway at a factory in Lancaster.