For anyone wondering what impact President Biden’s commitment to #equity is having on the ground, here’s an important data point: The $3.3 billion just awarded under the Reconnecting Communities program. When our nation built the federal highway system, our leaders put expressways through the heart of thriving communities – predominantly Black and low-income neighborhoods. Houses were razed, businesses were shuttered, and over 1 million people were displaced. Afterward, the remaining residents had to cross dangerous thoroughfares or travel many more miles to get to their job, school, grocery store, doctor’s office, or place of worship. Disinvestment deepened.
As Deborah Archer and others have shown, a combination of federal, state, and local officials made these infrastructure decisions, often, based explicitly on race. Sometimes, highways were routed through Black neighborhoods to clear out the residents. In other cases, highways served to separate Black and White neighborhoods, entrenching segregation that could no longer be accomplished through unconstitutional racially restrictive covenants and exclusionary zoning.
Now, the Reconnecting Communities program is stitching neighborhoods back together and putting economic opportunity back within reach. How? By building overpasses and pedestrian walkways, capping below-grade highways with public green space and walkable retail areas, and improving public transit, among other strategies. These projects will make for more vibrant neighborhoods that benefit *everyone*. DOT is funding 132 projects across the country – in Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Toledo, Birmingham, Los Angeles, and so many other places.
By the way: This is on top of roadway safety projects in over 1,000 communities plus $108 billion for public transit. These investments are helping Americans of all backgrounds in every state, including the rural and urban communities left behind in previous waves of government investment.
Details on the newly funded projects are here: https://lnkd.in/etyBvh28. The link below provides more information on the program, with helpful visualizations.
