Reconnecting Communities
The Biggest Wins — And Disappointments — From the ‘Reconnecting Communities’ Grants
"Until we overhaul our transportation system to redirect the majority of funding into community-oriented infrastructure investments, we will keep failing to meet our equity, climate, and maintenance goals."
March 22, 2024
Mixed Reviews for ‘Reconnecting Communities’ Grants
The Biden Administration funded some very worthy projects, but there were also a few head-scratchers in there.
March 14, 2024
Is the Environmental Racism of the Past Repeating Itself in Buffalo’s Expressway Project?
The construction of the Kensington Expressway devastated a predominantly Black neighborhood in the 1960s. And some advocates fear a new proposal to cap it won't be much better.
March 5, 2024
Is Detroit ‘Reconnecting Communities,’ or Missing an Opportunity?
Detroit won a $100-million federal grant to study replacing a highway with a boulevard. Some say the plan doesn't go far enough.
November 3, 2023
How a New Program is Helping Small Cities Transform Their Transportation Systems
"We don’t want the infrastructure law to compound our geographic inequalities. We wanted it to be an equalizing moment," said James Anderson of Bloomberg Philanthropies.
August 21, 2023
Study: Two-Thirds of Americans Know Highway Expansions Don’t Cure Traffic
"The public is way ahead of the elected officials, and it's way ahead of the transportation officials in [talking about] the kind of future they want to see."
June 29, 2023
Why Small Cities Torn Apart By Highways Need Extra Help to Heal
A new program will help smaller communities start the process of redesigning highways and other transportation investments that tore apart their communities — and shine a light on why it’s so hard for them to do it without outside help
June 12, 2023
Advocates Applaud ‘Reconnecting Communities’ Grantees — With Some Exceptions
The Department of Transportation's first picks for a historic new grant program aimed at repairing neighborhoods torn apart by highways were met by applause from advocates — even as they cautioned that far more remains to be done.
March 2, 2023
What A Multimodal Urban Design Contest in Iceland Can Teach the U.S.
An open competition to design a new urban quarter in Iceland will prioritize sustainable transportation in a region that's proactively transitioning out of car dependency — and it could serve as a model for how to fill similar holes in growing U.S. communities.
February 13, 2023
Syracuse’s Messy I-81 Teardown Fight Shows the Challenge of ‘Reconnecting Communities’
An 11th-hour legal battle over the future of one of America's most talked-about highway teardowns is sparking a debate about what it really means to "reconnect communities" devastated by highway construction — and possibly offering a preview of similar fights on deck in other U.S. cities.
December 12, 2022
