Napa Valley Vine Trail Would Get $3M Under Infrastructure Bill

NAPA VALLEY, CA — The U.S. House of Representatives approved a $715 billion infrastructure plan, and if the Senate passes it, it will mean $3 million for the Napa Valley Vine Trail in St. Helena.

If President Joe Biden signs it into law, it would be the nation’s largest infrastructure investment in about 75 years: a 50 percent increase over the last infrastructure budget, according to The New York Times.

California would be a big winner under the proposed law. The bill includes more than $900 million for projects throughout the Golden State. They include bridges, bike lanes and express lanes, railway expansions, electric vehicle charging stations, zero-emission transit fleets, tunnels, transportation hubs, wastewater and drinking water projects and other infrastructure to prepare for rising sea levels.

Locally, $3 million is earmarked in the bill for the Napa Valley Vine Trail in St. Helena. U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa, requested the funds that would go toward the St. Helena section of the Napa Valley Vine Trail, a 47-mile multi-use trail that is planned to extend from the Vallejo Ferry Terminal to the city of Calistoga. Currently, 12 miles of the trail have been completed, from Kennedy Park to Yountville, according to Vinetrail.org.

• SEE ALSO: Bay Trail-Vine Trail Project Awarded Grant Funds

The surface transportation and water spending bill prioritizes a Democratic wish list of projects for combating climate change. Democratic legislators argued that the funding is needed to contend with the effects of climate change and reduce the nation’s carbon footprint.

The unprecedented heat wave gripping the Pacific Northwest, killing dozens, added a sense of urgency among Democrats, who pushed the bill forward this week over Republican objections in the House.

“We have to rebuild in ways that we never even thought about before,” Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, told The New York Times. “This is the moment. We have to be bold.”

Click here to see all California projects that would be funded under the current bill.

Patch staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.