U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, left, Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, listen as Devan Eaton of the Maine DOT talks about a bridge construction project in Freeport on Tuesday. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

FREEPORT — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg visited two bridge construction projects on Interstate 295 and participated in a panel discussing infrastructure in rural communities Tuesday during a stop in Maine to tout investments by the Biden administration.

The visit came the day that Vice President Kamala Harris announced that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will be her running mate in the presidential race. Walz was picked from a field of contenders that also included Buttigieg and other well-known Democrats.

Buttigieg said he was visiting Maine in an official capacity and federal rules limit what he could say about the campaign.

“But I think what is fair game to say, without stepping on any campaign finance laws, is as secretary, I’ve worked with Gov. Walz, and he is a fantastic partner, a great leader who understands the importance of infrastructure,” Buttigieg said.

The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor, who ran in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, visited construction sites near Exit 20 and Exit 22 on Tuesday, where two aging bridges are being replaced using funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

BRIDGE PROJECTS PART OF LARGER INVESTMENTS

The law, signed by President Biden in 2021, invests $1.2 trillion in American infrastructure, about half designated for transportation needs.

A total of $2.5 billion has been earmarked for 312 projects in Maine, $1.5 billion of it for transportation projects including roads and bridges, public transport, airports, ports and waterways.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks to the media after visiting a bridge construction site in Freeport on Tuesday. Buttigieg visited two bridges under construction over I-295 in Freeport, the cost to replace both is estimated to be $26.5 million, part of which came from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

The Freeport bridge projects, which were started in 2022, are expected to be completed by the end of 2025 at a total cost of $26.5 million, with $17.7 million coming from federal sources, including $11 million from the infrastructure law.

One project is the replacement of the Merrill Road Interchange Bridge on Merrill Road over I-295 at Exit 20; the other will replace the Approach Road/Mallett Drive Interchange on Routes 125 and 136 over I-295 at Exit 22.

Buttigieg toured both and was joined by state and local officials including Maine Department of Transportation Commissioner Bruce Van Note, U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District.

He said the projects are good examples of federal dollars helping make improvements at the local level.

“It’s not always obvious when you see a bridge get fixed or a crosswalk get improved or you hear about a big port project how that happened,” Buttigieg said. “I want to make sure there’s an understanding that this is a partnership between the state and local communities and the Biden-Harris administration.”

Maine is the 50th state Buttigieg has visited as transportation secretary, and he appeared to enjoy it. At a news conference at the Exit 22 construction site, Buttigieg paused as L.L. Bean’s “Bootmobile” whizzed by.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, left, talks with Bruce Van Note, commissioner of the Maine DOT at the Exit 20 bridge construction site on I-295 in Freeport on Tuesday. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

“Sorry, it’s hard to concentrate with the boot going by,” Buttigieg said, prompting the crowd to laugh. “We don’t have that where I come from.”

RURAL LEADERS SPEAK TO NEEDS

Buttigieg appeared later as part of a panel discussion at the Smith Center for Education & Research at Wolfe’s Neck, where local business and community leaders spoke about the infrastructure investments important to them.

Matt Tarpey, co-founder of Marine Solar Technologies and Maine Electric Boat Co., said both companies arose out of the realization that “we’re doing more and more on our waterways” and that often the environmental impacts have been ignored. He said that doesn’t need to be the case.

“Very often the environmentalism and the fiscally responsible decision are one and the same,” Tarpey said.

Colleen Hanlon-Smith, who works in agriculture and growing markets for farmers, said the issue of finding viable markets for farms comes back to questions about distribution and infrastructure and must be balanced with sustainability.

“At times I’ve said, ‘I could use a fleet’ or ‘I could use a warehouse,’ ” Hanlon-Smith said. “What that has translated to is an opportunity to work with trucks already on the road and warehouses that are already existing to figure out how to optimize loads, how to create efficiencies and how to have that translate to more revenue for those already transporting food and reducing overhead costs.”

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, center, listens on Tuesday as Devan Eaton of the Maine DOT talks about a bridge construction project at Exit 22 of I-295. With Buttigieg are Sen. Angus King, Rep. Chellie Pingree and Bruce Van Note, far right, the commissioner of the Maine DOT. The twisted rebar in foreground is scrap from the old bridge being demolished. Buttigieg visited two bridge construction projects in Freeport on Tuesday, the estimated cost of both being $26.5 million, part of which came from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Buttigieg said the panel was helpful in providing him with a sense of what communities need and are looking for. “I think it was a reminder we need to take these big, sometimes massive programs, and continue fitting them to the needs and opportunities of smaller communities,” he said.

On Wednesday, Buttigieg will visit the Portland International Marine Terminal and the East Deering neighborhood of Portland, where a $25 million federal RAISE grant was awarded in June for traffic improvements around the future site of the Roux Institute, a research hub and graduate school that is part of Northeastern University.

The two-day visit is part of an effort to highlight investments by the Biden-Harris administration in strengthening supply chains, supporting rural and tribal communities, and making it easier for people to get to where they need to go.