On Tuesday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) had awarded 45 grants totaling $185 million designed to reconnect communities cut off by past transportation infrastructure decisions.
Part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the new Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program is a first-of-its-kind initiative that provides technical assistance and funding for planning and construction projects that are transformative community-led solutions to remove, retrofit, or mitigate transportation barriers like highways and railroad tracks. The grants will fund capping interstates with parks, filling in sunken highways to reclaim land for housing, converting inhospitable transportation facilities to tree-lined streets, and creating new crossings through public transportation, bridges, tunnels, and trails.
