Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Home / Government / Buttigieg introduces $1B plan to build racial equity into roads

Buttigieg introduces $1B plan to build racial equity into roads

Traffic passes under Wisconsin Avenue on the so-called Stadium Freeway near American Family Field in Milwaukee on Thursday. State transportation officials have embarked on a study to see if the freeway spur should be rebuilt as an at-grade boulevard to prevent a nearby mostly Black neighborhood from being cut off from other parts of the city. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced Thursday that $1 billion in the federal infrastructure bill will be put aside for similar studies throughout the country. (Staff photo by Dan Shaw)

By HOPE YEN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Thursday introduced a $1 billion first-of-its-kind plan meant to help reconnect cities and neighborhoods racially segregated or divided by road projects, pledging wide-ranging help to dozens of communities despite the program’s limited dollars.

Under the Reconnecting Communities program, cities and states can now apply for the federal aid over five years to rectify harm caused by roadways that were built primarily through lower-income, Black communities after the 1950s creation of the interstate highway system.

New projects could include rapid bus transit lines to link disadvantaged neighborhoods to jobs; caps built on top of highways featuring green spaces, bike lanes and pedestrian walkways to allow for safe crossings over the roadways; repurposing former rail lines; and the partial removal of highways. In Wisconsin, state transportation officials are now studying a proposal to have Milwaukee’s so-called Stadium Freeway — State Highway 175 — rebuilt as an at-grade boulevard between Lisbon and Wisconsin avenues to prevent a nearby mostly Black neighborhood from being cut off from other parts of the city by the current freeway spur. It was not immediately clear if the Wisconsin Department of Transportation plans to apply for the funds Buttigieg announced on Thursday.

Still, the grants, on offer through President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law, are considerably less than the $20 billion the Democratic president originally envisioned. Advocacy groups say the money isn’t nearly enough to have a big effect on capital construction for more than 50 citizen-led efforts nationwide aimed at dismantling or redesigning highways — from Portland, Oregon, to New Orleans; St. Paul, Minnesota; Houston; Tampa, Florida; and Syracuse, New York. Meanwhile, some Republicans, including the possible 2024 presidential contender Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have derided the effort as the “woke-ification” of federal policy, suggesting political crosswinds ahead in an election season.

“Transportation can connect us to jobs, services and loved ones, but we’ve also seen countless cases around the country where a piece of infrastructure cuts off a neighborhood or a community because of how it was built,” said Buttigieg, who was announcing the pilot program later Thursday in Birmingham, Alabama. He described Reconnecting Communities as a broad department “principle” — not just a program — to address the issue with many efforts underway.

“This is a forward-looking vision,” Buttigieg said. “Our focus isn’t about assigning blame. It isn’t about getting caught up in guilt. It’s about fixing a problem. It’s about mending what has been broken, especially when the damage was done with taxpayer dollars.”

The Transportation Department has been seeking to help communities that feel racially harmed by highway projects. The Federal Highway Administration last year took the rare step of pausing a proposed $9 billion widening project in Houston, partly over civil-rights concerns. That decision likely spurred action in other places such as Austin, Texas, where environmental and racial-justice groups recently filed a lawsuit to force the Texas transportation agency to better assess the likely effects of a proposed highway project there.

Buttigieg drew fire from some Republicans earlier this year when he said the federal government had an obligation to lessen the harm caused by racist design in highways. “There’s trees they’re putting in, they’re saying that highways are racially discriminatory. I don’t know how a road can be that,” DeSantis said in February, dismissing it as “woke.”

Under the program, $195 million worth of grants is to be awarded this year, of which $50 million will be devoted for communities to conduct planning studies.

The department will also embark on a “Thriving Communities” initiative to provide technical support for projects that serve disadvantaged communities alongside the Housing and Urban Development Department.

The Transportation Department has previously estimated it could help as many as 20 local governments in the U.S. remove parts of interstates and redesign streets by tapping into other transportation funds. According to the department, officials that win the Reconnecting Communities grants but still need additional money will be prioritized in their applications for other pots of federal transportation aid. Dozens of more local governments could derive benefit from the planning grants.

“Prior to 2021, the idea that we would deal with highway infrastructure that has divided communities was very much a fringe idea,” said Ben Crowther, coordinator for the Boston-based Freeway Fighters Network, which is supported by the Congress for the New Urbanism. “The Biden administration has really transformed that into mainstream thinking. We are thinking now this is something that is possible — that you can remove a highway and instead build safe streets that are walkable, add housing and address other community needs besides travel time.”

– Daily Reporter staff contributed to this report

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*