President Biden unveiled a more than $2 trillion infrastructure plan Wednesday.
One he says will address some critical needs facing the country.
The plan calls for spending on everything from roads to bridges and airports to public transit.
It also aims to increase broadband access in rural parts of the country.
The Cadillac Area Chamber of Commerce says it’s also critical to restarting the economy.
“In this economy where a lot of our employment can’t work from home, having that internet so they can expand their businesses whether its social media, websites, takeout’s, delivery, them getting creative, they have to have access to do that,” said Chamber President Caitlyn Berard.
That’s a big part of why the Biden administration made broadband access part of its infrastructure plan, even after including billions for broadband in the American Rescue Plan.
The White House says 35{a7758c3706987b952e6c06b8e84de22b0478c6ec9e4b4c13f69a9ea693861278} of Americans living in rural areas don’t have access to quality high speed internet.
Tom Stephenson is a Community Technology Advisor with Connected Nation who’s working on broadband projects in Michigan.
“I’m hoping the libraries will be able to replace their equipment on the inside, update their computer’s, telehealth services, and have money for more monitoring. With this buildout you’re going to need a lot of money for people to upgrade to take advantage of it,” said Stephenson.
But one of the biggest barriers remains cost.
“State incentives are just absolutely wonderful, it’s what’s going to make the difference for us and we’re just going to continue to support those incentives, continue to support our businesses, anything we can do to make sure we can bring the broadband here sooner than later,” said Berard.
