U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited Indianapolis Thursday to highlight investments in workforce and infrastructure.

At a stop in Elkhart Wednesday, Pete Buttigieg, the former South Bend mayor and current U.S. transportation secretary, touted a $2.6 million federal grant awarded last year to Patriot Railways, formerly known as Elkhart Western Railroad, a regional short-line track.

Federally-funded infrastructure projects are bringing jobs and opportunities to communities that had felt forgotten. That was the message U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg shared during a visit to Gary on Wednesday.

Last month, the state released a map of where it hopes to place EV chargers using the money from the federal infrastructure law — with more than half in "disadvantaged communities." But the Indiana Alliance for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for Electric Vehicle Infrastructure and Economic Opportunities said few of those communities were racially or ethnically diverse.

Tell City, like many Hoosier communities along the Ohio River, relies heavily on barge traffic to fuel its local economy. An integral part of that shipping network is the Tell City River Port, where Buttigieg started his visit.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is announcing more than $241 million in grants to bolster U.S ports. An Indiana city was one of several grant recipients.

Pete Buttigieg, sworn in Wednesday as transportation secretary, urged his 55,000 employees to embrace "imaginative, bold, forward thinking."

Pete Buttigieg won Senate approval Tuesday as transportation secretary, the first openly gay person to be confirmed to a Cabinet post. He'll be tasked with advancing President Joe Biden's ambitious agenda of rebuilding the nation's infrastructure and fighting climate change.

As transportation secretary, Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg will face an airline and public transportation industry reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, as well as an aging infrastructure system.

The Commerce Committee approved the nomination of Pete Buttigieg, a 39-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, on a 21-3 vote.