The U.S. Department of Transportation recently launched the $1 billion Reconnecting Communities pilot program.
The program, created in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, advances projects to a phase where they are more competitive for other sources of capital funding. Funding can be used to support planning efforts that reconnect communities that were previously cut off from economic opportunities by transportation infrastructure.
States, local and tribal governments, metropolitan planning organizations, nonprofit organizations, and other transportation facility owners are eligible for funding.
Applications from economically disadvantaged communities will receive preference. The deadline is Oct. 13.
This year, $195 million in funding will be available. A total of $50 million will be awarded for planning activities in communities that may be earlier in the process.
“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,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. “Using funds from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are proud to announce the launch of Reconnecting Communities: the first-ever dedicated federal initiative to unify neighborhoods living with the impacts of past infrastructure choices that divided them.”