WASHINGTON – Norfolk will receive a $1.6 million grant to go towards the “Norfolk 1-264 Reconnecting Communities Project,” according to an announcement from U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
The funding is part of the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, established by Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. A press release from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) says the program aims to “reconnect communities that are cut off from opportunity and burdened by past transportation infrastructure decisions.”
Norfolk’s project is one of 45 across the country to receive grant money, according to USDOT. A total of $185 million was awarded to the projects, which Buttigieg says will “connect, not divide, people and communities.”
“We are proud to announce the first grantees of our Reconnecting Communities Program, which will unite neighborhoods, ensure the future is better than the past, and provide Americans with better access to jobs, health care, groceries and other essentials,” said Buttigieg.
The project’s objective is to find a solution to the "’spaghetti bowl,’ a 14-lane-wide jumble of I-264 ramps and interchanges that cuts a low-income and vast majority Black neighborhood off from the core downtown area.”
The department elaborated on this in its press release:
“Upon completion, I-264's retroactive placement in downtown Norfolk cut off Black neighborhoods, public housing communities, and anchor institutions from downtown opportunities that include job centers, educational hubs, transportation resources and cultural institutions. The legacy impacts of this are still felt today in the form of high unemployment, high poverty levels and low educational attainment.”
The department says improving the current transportation infrastructure in Norfolk, and all the cities that are receiving funding, will help “revitalize communities, provide access to jobs and opportunity, and reduce pollution.”
For more information, click here.
