Democrats could've used more of these Biden Infrastructure Project signs

Driving home from Ohio, I realized Democrats could have made a way bigger deal about how exactly the Infrastructure Bill will benefit the public. These signs are a start.

You can find signs like this one, on Whittier St. in East English Village, all across the state. This one has been vandalized with spray paint that reads, “Biden Enables Genocide.” Photo: Samuel Robinson

The signature act of former President Joe Biden was his passage of the $1.2 billion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) in 2021, which included more than $13 billion in infrastructure funding for Michigan.

The funds have paid for lead line replacement, improvements to roads and bridges, expanding access to high-speed internet and increasing climate resilience.

But does anyone know any that’s happening?

I texted four of my friends (people under 30) who vote but aren’t paid to follow politics everyday. None of them knew what the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is, or who’s behind it.

Screenshot of one of those text messages.

“The BIL is strengthening communities in every corner of the state, helping them attract good-paying jobs, bolster their infrastructure, win additional investments, and improve quality of life,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration said in a press release from 2024 updating the progress.

The state created a Michigan Infrastructure Investment Tracker to view the projects happening in your neighborhood.

There are also these Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signs.

This sign, which doesn’t have a Biden slogan, is in Monroe County. Photo: Samuel Robinson

Michigan and a number of other states allowed special provisions to install these signs marking high profile BIL projects with Biden campaign-esque slogans like “Building a Better America” or “Investing in America.”

Some of the signs, like one in SW Detroit and another on the east side, even identify President Joe Biden above the patriotic slogan.

First-term President Donald Trump getting his signature on relief checks in 2020 during the pandemic proved to be a massive political winner four years later when voters I talked to for this story published in the Detroit Free Press.

A person Kamala Harris’ campaign offered to speak with me for the story acknowledged he too initially believed the checks, signed by the president, were the sole work of Trump.

Neither the stimulus checks, nor the infrastructure funds happened without bipartisan approval in Congress. However, colloquial language exists for the stimulus checks (Trump checks, Trump bucks, etc.) in a way it does not for the the largest investment in American infrastructure in nearly a century.

Read more: Congress sent checks, Trump took credit. He's reaping the political reward 4 years later