INDIANAPOLIS — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg no longer lives in Indiana, but he returned to his birth state this week to celebrate how his department is improving the lives of Hoosiers.
Buttigieg made two stops in Indianapolis Thursday after touring through northwest Indiana on Wednesday.
He first visited the Sheet Metal Workers Local 20 Union facility, located on East 45th Street and Binford Boulevard.
Buttigieg says funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law kickstarted several projects which employ Local 20 members, such as construction at the Indianapolis International Airport and an electric vehicle battery plant coming to Kokomo.
“What we’re stimulating the private sector to do and what we are funding in the public sector will test the productive capacity of this country,” Buttigieg said. “From the raw materials themselves to, most of all, the skills and readiness of the workforce who will shape these materials into the factories, roads, bridges and airports which we will count on for the rest of our lives.”
Buttigieg wrapped up his day in downtown Indianapolis, where he and city leaders celebrated a $25 million federal grant from the Department of Transportation. The grant will help convert eight streets in and around downtown Indianapolis from one-way traffic to two-way traffic.
He says a similar renovation revitalized South Bend while he was mayor and is excited to see how the Circle City’s infrastructure develops for a new era.
“In the 1960s and 70s, there was this concept where roads became about blasting vehicles through the cities as quickly as possible,” Buttigieg said. “That might be appropriate for the interstate highway system, but it’s not appropriate for the absolute heart of the city for streets that need to be part of the fabric of the community.”
Congressman Andre Carson accompanied Buttigieg during his Indianapolis trip.
