"We're proud to support these great projects that will improve infrastructure, strengthen supply chains, make us safer, advance equity, and combat climate change," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. "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."
The program selection criteria encompassed safety, environmental sustainability, quality of life, economic competitiveness, state of good repair, innovation, and partnerships with a broad range of stakeholders. Within these criteria, the grants reflect the Department's priorities for creating good-paying jobs, improving safety, applying transformative technology, and explicitly addressing climate change and advancing racial equity.
The projects receiving funding include:
-
$900,000 to the City of Dallas for the Connecting Communities in the Southern Gateway project. The project will create a comprehensive master plan for projects connecting the Southern Gateway Park and Dallas Zoo to the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas and conduct design and engineering for three projects across 12 acres of new, public-use, urban green space being constructed over a section of I-35 consisting of: intersection improvements connecting the Gateway Park to the Bishop Arts and Jefferson commercial area; a pedestrian bridge connecting the commuter rail line to the Dallas Zoo; and a pedestrian bridge over I-35 connecting to 12 acres of newly created green space.
-
$900,000 to the City of El Paso for the I-10 Deck Plaza Planning Study. This project will develop plans for a Deck Plaza over the sunken I-10 in the downtown area. This project would develop a roughly 12-acre park-like deck above the sunken I-10 that separates downtown and uptown El Paso. These two areas are connected by eight bridges and the proposed deck would build around and connect these eight existing roadways, creating parks with amenities between them.
-
$8.2 million to the North Central Texas Council of Governments for the Enhancing Mobility within the Southern Dallas Inland Port project. This project will implement new transit service, improve pedestrian infrastructure, and update traffic signals in the Southern Dallas County Inland Port area covering over 120 square miles, including portions of Southern Dallas and DeSoto counties, in addition to the cities of Lancaster, Hutchins, and Wilmer. The project has three components: the purchasing of eight electric shuttles to deliver on-demand transit; the construction of sidewalks and crosswalks near the VA Medical Center and light-rail station; and approximately 41 new traffic signals to optimize transit, pedestrian, and vehicular movements.
-
$12 million to the Texas Department of Transportation for The LOOP: Uniting Neighborhoods with Urban Trails project. This project will complete the third and final segment of The LOOP, a 50-mile urban trail in the city of Dallas, Texas. The project will add approximately eleven miles of trail, replace a two-lane, low clearance bridge with a four-lane Complete Street bridge, extend an existing Complete Street, and add access to two light rail stations. The bridge replacement includes raising the structure to meet current standards for bridges over the Texas Multimodal Freight Network.
Fiscal Year 2021 RAISE Transportation discretionary grants are for planning and capital investments in surface transportation infrastructure and were awarded on a competitive basis for projects that will have a significant local or regional impact. RAISE funding supports roads, bridges, transit, rail, ports or intermodal transportation.
Per statute, the Department is awarding 50% of RAISE Transportation grant funding to projects located in rural areas and 50% to urban areas that deliver positive benefits for these communities. For this round of RAISE Transportation discretionary grants, the maximum grant award is $25 million, and no more than $100 million can be awarded to a single State, as specified in the appropriations act.