US President Joe Biden is pictured as he returns to the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, Sept. 7, 2021. US President Joe Biden on Thursday announced sweeping new vaccine requirements, which may affect about 100 million Americans, as part of a new action plan to curb the surging COVID-19 cases driven by the highly contagious Delta variant. Photo:Xinhua

US President Joe Biden flew Tuesday to a creaky bridge in New Hampshire to tout his rare victory in passing a bipartisan infrastructure package, hoping the $1 trillion measure will also put his own presidency back on the road.

Biden's trip to the antiquated NH 175 bridge over the Pemigewasset River in North Woodstock kicked off a blitz by the White House to milk political capital from the biggest national infrastructure deal in more than half a century.

Biden signed the bill - which allocates $1.2 trillion for bridges, roads, internet broadband, electric vehicle charging networks and clean drinking water - at a White House ceremony on Monday.

Standing on the bridge in a light snowfall, Biden said the coming wave of public works projects should lift the nation.

"When you see these projects starting in your home towns, I want you to feel what I feel: pride," he said.

Beyond the huge price tag, the bill was remarkable for getting a significant minority of Republicans voting alongside Biden's Democrats in Congress, a rare to vanishing event in today's Washington.

And Biden, whose poll ratings have cratered in the face of high inflation and the stubborn COVID-19 pandemic, hopes that success will deliver him new political life.

"Despite the cynics - Democrats and Republicans - we can work together. We can deliver real results," Biden said.

A White House official said the trip to New Hampshire, a tiny but politically outsized state with a crucial role in presidential election primaries, was just the beginning.

"President Biden's trip... marks the start of an administration-wide effort where the president, vice president, and cabinet members will travel across the country promoting the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and communicating directly with the American people about how it will change their lives for the better," a spokesperson said.

"Officials will travel red states, blue states, big cities, small towns, rural areas, tribal communities, and more to highlight how the president forged consensus."

In addition to travel, the administration will be unrolling a media campaign on local and national television.

The latest poll showed only 41 percent approving Biden's job performance, a devastating drop from his first months in power, when he ended the chaotic Donald Trump era with a promise of bipartisan healing and government competence.

AFP