U.S. Senate passes one of the largest infrastructure bills in recent decades

(ABC 6 News) – Tuesday, the U.S. Senate passed one of the largest infrastructure bills in recent decades.

The plan will spread one trillion dollars across the country’s roads and waterways.

Minnesota Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith both voted to pass a large infrastructure bill in the Senate Tuesday morning.

"This is the most major investment in infrastructure that we’ve seen in our time," Senator Amy Klobuchar said.

The vote was quick and bipartisan. The federal government is giving Minnesota about 5.7 billion dollars to invest in roads, waterways, and broadband internet.

"We still have 144,000 households that don’t have high-speed internet. That was part of the bill that I worked on a lot," Klobuchar said.

Klobuchar says the bill is meant to focus on the country’s rural communities. She says this is big news for places like Southeast Minnesota.

"We know that in order to come out of this pandemic strong we need to invest in our infrastructure to move forward," Rochester Mayor Kim Norton said.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation told ABC 6 News that it’s too soon to know exactly how the money will be divided up between Minnesota cities and counties. But local officials already have plans for how they’re going to spend the money. Rochester Mayor Kim Norton said the city’s wastewater treatment plant needs repairs.

"Wastewater treatment plants and the sewer lines that are attached to those are very expensive. And it’s a long complicated process and we do think that these funds could benefit us," Norton said.

Other projects in line for funding in Rochester include a 6th street bridge and a bus rapid transit system.

The infrastructure bill still has to go through the House of Representatives.