Ryan Neil

The Biden-Harris Administration Announces Awards to Reconnect Communities

On February 28th, 2023, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced a historic $185 million in grant awards for 45 projects through the new Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, a first-of-its-kind initiative to reconnect communities that are cut off from opportunity and burdened by past transportation infrastructure decisions. A full list of the awarded projects along with unsuccessful applicants can be found on the USDOT website.

"Transportation should connect, not divide, people and communities,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “We are proud to announce the first grantees of our Reconnecting Communities Program, which will unite neighborhoods, ensure the future is better than the past, and provide Americans with better access to jobs, health care, groceries and other essentials.”

In reviewing applications for these grants, USDOT partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Transportation Department gave priority to applications from economically disadvantaged communities.

“The grants from the ‘Reconnecting Communities’ program will fund projects that prioritize people instead of cars; create opportunities for new housing, parks and community space; and ensure residents can more easily access jobs, schools and the other resources they need to thrive,” said Corinne Kisner, executive director of the National Association of City Transportation Officials.

According to a press release, the Inflation Reduction Act will provide an additional $3 billion to the Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program, which can fund projects that reconnect communities. The Transportation Department plans to launch this program later in the spring. Below is a brief list of projects that were awarded planning and construction grants.

A community-led proposal in Tulsa, Oklahoma will receive $1,600,000 for a partial removal study of I-244 through Greenwood. The applicant for this project is the North Peoria Church of Christ, a nonprofit recipient.

Birmingham, Alabama will receive $800,000 for the city’s Transportation Capital Investment Plan, which will advance data-driven transportation recommendations to mitigate the negative impacts of existing transportation infrastructure on the connectivity of many of Birmingham’s historic neighborhoods, including historically Black communities.

The City of Long Beach, California will receive $30 million to redesign West Shoreline Drive, converting the urban freeway into a landscaped, lower-speed roadway.

Buffalo, New York will receive $55.6 million to build a new highway cap and tunnel over the Kensington Expressway, a physical barrier that isolates residents on the city’s primarily Black east side.

The City of Syracuse, New York will receive $500,000 to further their work toward reconnecting a post I-81 viaduct and reconnecting the street grid.

Tampa, Florida will receive $5.4 million to lower an I-275 interchange ramp to street level, reconnecting downtown Tampa and its riverfront along with adding new bicycle and pedestrian routes.

The stated objective of the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program is to fund transformative community-led solutions, including capping interstates with parks, filling in sunken highways to reclaim the land for housing, converting inhospitable transportation facilities to tree-lined Complete Streets, and creating new crossings through public transportation, bridges, tunnels and trails.

While we are delighted to see community-led and supported projects receive the funding they need, there are several disappointing aspects to the announcement. The USDOT missed opportunities to support additional community groups, such as the Claiborne Avenue Alliance in New Orleans, which has championed the removal of the Claiborne Expressway for years. They have significantly raised the profile of the need to reconnect communities in the period leading up to the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Of the 39 winning planning grant applications, only three have a community-based organization as their lead applicant. To make matters worse, the USDOT has decided to award $500,000 to the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, despite the lack of transparency and community involvement.

The team at America Walks summarized it well in their recent blog post: USDOT’s Reconnecting Communities Program Lifts Up Local Efforts To Address Historic Injustices.

Resources

• Freeways Without Futures (Congress for New Urbanism)
• Freeway fighting projects across the U.S. (Freeway Fighters Network)
• What does America spend on transportation and infrastructure? Is infrastructure improving? (USA Facts)
• State of Finance for Nature in Cities 2023 (UN Environment Programme)
• Tracking Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act Highway and Bridge Resources (American Road & Transportation Builders Association)
• Freeway lid case studies (Lid I-5)
• Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State: 2022 Preliminary Data (Governors Highway Safety Association)