DoT Awards $1B For Infrastructure Projects Through RAISE Grants

The Biden Administration will invest nearly $1 billion in grants through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity program, which was flooded with interest last week as municipalities clamored for funds. Grants have been awarded to 90 projects across 47 states, the District of Columbia and Guam, according to US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. 

Selection criteria for the grants included environmental sustainability, quality of life, economic competitiveness, state of good repair, innovation, and partnerships with a broad range of stakeholders, according to DOT.

“We’re proud to support these great projects that will improve infrastructure, strengthen supply chains, make us safer, advance equity, and combat climate change,” Buttigieg said. “As in past years, we received far more applications than we could fund: this cycle saw about a ten-to-one ratio of requests to available dollars. But going forward, with the passage of President Biden’s bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we will be able to support far more infrastructure projects to support jobs and everyday life in communities across the country.”

Major projects funded in fiscal year 2021 include initiatives in Manchester, N.H.; northwestern New Mexico; St. Louis; Charlotte, N.C.; Atlanta; and Seattle.

The RAISE Manchester: Connecting Communities involves $25 million to reconnect Manchester’s South Millyard district to surrounding neighborhoods and the city’s downtown. The initiative is part of facilitating new, mixed-use development and adaptive redevelopment of existing buildings.

In New Mexico, the state Department of Transportation will receive $25 million to reconstruct 21 miles of US 64 across the northwestern part of the state.. The project includes the replacement of four bridges, as well as roadway improvements and installation of fiber optic cable to connect communications and monitoring equipment.

St. Louis County, Missouri will receive $18.2 million to reconstruct approximately 1.5 miles of West Florissant Avenue, a main thoroughfare between the towns of Dellwood and Ferguson. According to the release, the project includes a new shared-use path, upgrades to transit stops, new traffic signals, medians, modified property access, new crosswalks, and improved ADA-compliant sidewalks. The project addresses safety concerns and will include new greenspace.   

In Charlotte, N.C., the city will receive $15 million to construct a new multimodal transit center to replace an existing open-air bus terminal in the city’s downtown that will connect to light rail, streetcar service, and busses. It will also include a new pedestrian trail.  

The City of Atlanta will receive a $900,000 planning grant to cap interstates 75 and 85 in the city’s downtown, reconnecting the Midtown and Old Fourth Ward communities that were previously cut off from downtown by the freeways. The project, known as the Stitch, will provide pedestrian-oriented streets to the communities and will include 14 acres of greenspace. 

Finally, in Seattle, $20 million will be dedicated to reconstruct a 1.1-mile segment of the East Marginal Way roadway, a vital freight route.