Buttigieg unveils new transportation program during visit to Woodlawn

Standing at the Woodlawn Transit Center — part of the forthcoming Birmingham Xpress bus rapid transit system — U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg unveiled the Biden administration’s “Reconnecting Communities” pilot program, aimed at connecting disadvantaged communities with economic and social opportunity.

The $1 billion grant program is part of the president’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, and applications are now being accepted. Of that amount, about $195 million is available this year, according to a Department of Transportation news release, and $50 million is dedicated to planning activities for communities that may be earlier in the process.

Targeted at communities that were previously put at a disadvantage by transportation infrastructure, grant monies could be used by implementing new bike paths and pedestrian walkways, creating green spaces and parks that connect communities, creating a “cap” or lid — which allows for functional uses like walking paths and parks — over highways and interstates, installing bus systems like Birmingham’s BRT and more, Buttigieg said.

“This is as fitting a place as you can find in the country to talk about the history and the future of transportation equity in America,” Buttigieg said.

Decades ago, neighborhoods like Titusville, Fountain Heights and Druid Hills, among others, said Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, were cut off from other parts of the city and economic opportunities by the construction of Interstate 59/20. Woodfin said he hopes to alleviate those past mistakes and create more connection in the future through projects like the new City Walk, which opens July 7. The nearly mile-long stretch of public space will connect numerous neighborhoods to the rest of the city.

Birmingham Xpress, a $20 million project funded during the Barack Obama administration, will connect 25 neighborhoods along a 10-mile corridor between Five Points West and Woodlawn.

The system uses BRT technology to improve travel time, lower costs and enhance service.

U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, a Democrat who represents Alabama’s 7th Congressional District, said it is an “honor” to work with an administration that “actually got something done on infrastructure,” which has, in the past, hurt the state’s most vulnerable residents.

“For decades, highways, railroads and other transportation networks have divided our communities rather than connecting them, making it harder for our most vulnerable residents to get to work, to get to school and to access services that they so need,” Sewell said. “It is by no happenstance that our railroads and our byways actually block in communities of color and those in underserved communities.”

While the country’s national transportation system is something to be proud of, there have been mistakes made that need to be reckoned with, Buttigieg said. Some of those mistakes were poor decisions made on the part of past builders and politicians, often at the expense of Black Americans, he said.

“From the interstate system to our national aviation system, we have a lot to be proud of,” Buttigieg said. “But we can’t ignore the basic truth that some of the planners and politicians behind those projects built them through the heart of vibrant, populated communities, sometimes in an effort to reinforce segregation, sometimes because the people there have less power to resist and sometimes, as part of a direct effort to replace or eliminate Black neighborhoods.”

Improving transportation systems can improve lives, Buttigieg said.

“When people have access to opportunity through physical mobility, the result is more social and economic mobility and prosperity,” Buttigieg said.

The lack of equality in transportation can be seen in American vernacular such as “the wrong side of the tracks,” Buttigieg said.

While not funded through the program, City Walk and Birmingham Xpress are two examples of the kinds of projects that will be made possible across the country by the Reconnecting Communities program, which will receive applications and give grants over the next five years.

Other examples include creating a “cap” or lid — which allows for functional uses like walking paths and parks on highways and interstates — over Interstate 75/85 in Atlanta, and a new bus system in Baltimore and the addition of bike lanes and more in St. Louis, Buttigieg said.

“They empower communities to innovate and define their future,” he said.

Grants can go toward studying or planning possible projects as well as paying for some of the construction costs. They are available for state governments, local governments, tribal governments, a metropolitan planning organization and nonprofits, according to the infrastructure bill.

The Department of Transportation will also be launching the Thriving Communities Initiative to provide technical assistance and hands-on planning support, Buttigieg said.

In addition to providing money for the projects, there will be guidelines in place to ensure bids are awarded and jobs for the projects given to community members, creating “generational wealth,” Buttigieg said.

This is not an “exercise in blame or guilt,” Buttigieg said, but rather a “reckoning” of the past.

“We can make better decisions than what came before,” Buttigieg said. “We won’t just be repairing legacies of the past; we’ll be creating new ones for the future that we can be proud of.”

Woodfin said Birmingham would be applying for grants, but it is not yet known which projects any awarded grants would fund.

In evaluating applications, Buttigieg said priority will be given to those who demonstrate strong community input and buy-in. In a release, Buttigieg said preference will also be given to “applications from economically disadvantaged communities, especially those with projects that are focused on equity and environmental justice, have strong community engagement and stewardship, and a commitment to shared prosperity and equitable development.”

Buttigieg said he can’t anticipate how many applications will come in, but the department will “learn a lot” from those applications. Even after the $1 billion is spent, the program will help the administration budget and plan how to better use other federal funds, he said.