An upgrade of Atlanta's busiest subway station, continued construction of the California high-speed rail project and a new shipping terminal in Alaska's Aleutian Islands all received grants from the $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure plan.
A total of 166 projects for public transportation, commercial shipping, public parks and electric-vehicle support were awarded grants last week by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The $2.2 billion represents this year's allotment from the broader federal plan, also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Grants were capped at $25 million per project and were awarded in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. The winning projects are located in urban, suburban and rural areas, and touch on everything from replacing worn-out bridges to building new ocean seawalls.
Some grants were designed to help boost economically struggling areas, such as $25 million to replace the 70-year-old Wilcox Boulevard bridge in a section of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
"The deteriorating ... bridge has decreased access to essential services for some of Chattanooga's most vulnerable neighborhoods," Tennessee state Rep. Yusuf Hakeem said at a Friday event announcing the grant.
Other projects will help support nearby economic development projects. Atlanta’s transit agency received a $25 million federal grant to renovate Five Points, the city’s busiest subway station. Five Points is the only connecting station between MARTA's north-south and east-west rail lines. About 60,000 riders pass through it daily.
MARTA will spend a total of $200 million to remove a concrete canopy that spans most of the 1979-era Five Points station and improve passenger access to trains and buses.
Ridership is expected to increase dramatically at Five Points as three large mixed-use projects are underway in downtown Atlanta: CIM Group’s $5 billion Centennial Yards; Newport’s South Dwntn; and Lalani Ventures’ revival of Underground Atlanta.
Many of the grants were awarded to Native American tribes. A $22 million grant was approved for the Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska to build a new dock and container storage yard at its Pacific Ocean port.
In California, a $25 million grant will allow the state to extend construction of its high-speed passenger rail line from Fresno to Merced. Construction is underway on parts of the $113 billion project, which will eventually link Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.
Other grants announced last week include:
- $25 million for safety improvements at automobile-railroad crossings along freight and Brightline passenger rail lines on Florida’s southeast Atlantic coast.
- $25 million to build 40 miles of the Flint Hills Trail in eastern Kansas.
- $25 million to replace an interchange on Interstate 95 in Bangor, Maine.
- $25 million to build a four-lane road, seawall and promenade along the Charlotte Amalie waterfront in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
- $21 million to expand and upgrade the New Carrollton passenger rail and bus station in Hyattsville, Maryland, creating easier connections between commuter rail, heavy rail and bus lines.
- $20 million to build a bicycle-pedestrian bridge over the Potomac River connecting Arlington, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
- $16 million for upgrades to streets, sidewalks and bike paths in downtown Wheeling, West Virginia.
- $8 million to build a new seawall in Sitka, Alaska, to support the area's commercial fishing industry.
- $3 million to replace a pontoon swing bridge over Bayou Lafourche in Louisiana.