“There’s simply no reason for this — this is the United States of America for G-d’s sake,” Biden said as he decried the frustration, inconvenience and environmental consequences wrought by the status quo at Logan and East Boston.

“We’re finally going to do something about it,” Biden continued. “The governor and the (Massachusetts) Legislature moved to try do as much as they can, but through the infrastructure law we’re investing $62 million here at Logan. It’s the largest grant for airport terminals in the country thus far — one of the largest federal investments in airports ever.

Officials are moving “full steam ahead,” Biden said, vowing that Bay Staters will benefit from a “first-class airport” in “very short order.”

The president’s speech capped off a lengthy speaking program at the terminal, where local, state and federal officials — including Gov. Charlie Baker, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh — gathered to commend Biden’s legislative victory.

Terminal E used to serve less than 1.5 million passengers when it opened in 1974, though that service has nearly quadrupled five decades later, said U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton. He called on officials to “think big” and “raise the bar high” when envisioning lofty transportation projects that exceed fixing the MBTA, as Moulton alluded to a litany of failures at the beleaguered transit system, like the current shutdown of the Orange Line.

“The fact of the matter is we need to do more,” Moulton said. “We need to build equitable, sustainable systems of transit for all the people coming across the globe to Massachusetts, but also for all the great citizens of this commonwealth who drive our economy.”

Assistant Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Katherine Clark said the airport funding represents “only the beginning” of the sweeping post-pandemic recovery galvanized by the Biden administration.

“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will improve our roads and bridges, clean our air and water, expand broadband access and create 2 million jobs every single year for the next decade,” Clark said at the terminal. “These jobs will be union jobs, these jobs will be green jobs. This is an investment in our future.”

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said the “best news of all” is that more federal aid is on the way, as the Cambridge Democrat underscored the combined success story at Terminal E in addressing the climate crisis and spurring union jobs to rebuild the middle class. The federal grant also signals a boon for tourism throughout the commonwealth, including the Berkshires and oceanfront communities, Warren said.

“It also means more business travel and more business for the companies that were hit hard during COVID and are still having trouble recovering from the pandemic,” Warren said.

Massachusetts is slated to get more than $1.7 billion tied to transportation funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law this year, the Biden administration said in July. And over five years, the commonwealth will see more than $2.8 billion in federal funding to improve transit.

“To put it in a nutshell, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law basically doubles the annual level of funding we had anticipated to receive over the course of the next five years,” Baker said as he joked about the constant stream of Massport construction. “It will dramatically change the way live and work, and in some cases, play here in Massachusetts.”

The Baker administration, in an effort to maximize Massachusetts’ edge in jockeying for competitive discretionary grants, had filed a $9.7 billion infrastructure bond bill this spring to jumpstart sprawling planning initiatives — some of which will aid in the development of East-West rail linking together Eastern and Western Massachusetts. The Legislature so far has committed $275 million to the passenger rail project within what ultimately morphed into a $11.3 billion transportation resources and climate bond bill.

“I’m incredibly grateful to the members of our delegation for their work, and the work that was done by our Legislature to build on that Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to make sure that Massachusetts would have the state matching funds and the statutory authorization that we need to take full advantage of this bill,” Baker said.

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Original story HERE.