DALLAS — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg says it’s a multi-billion dollar project meant to help historically disadvantaged communities by reconnecting neighborhoods divided by highways.
Perhaps the best example is Interstate 30 to the south of downtown Dallas.
“You have neighborhoods that were really harmed by some of the past decisions that are going to benefit, everybody’s going to benefit, from these,” Secretary Buttigieg told us on Inside Texas Politics. “It’s even going to mean cleaner air because they’re adding park land.”
The Biden Administration recently dedicated $80 Million to North Texas through the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhood Grant Program, funding that’s part of President Biden’s Investing in America initiative.
Buttigieg says the projects, which will include bridge parks, will provide a benefit to safety, a benefit to economic development and an equity benefit, as some of the previous divisions left neighborhoods without direct access to essential resources such as schools, employment opportunities, medical facilities and places of worship.
40 states are receiving money.
And Buttigieg visited Alabama before coming to Texas.
“Some of the classic examples of where you have a highway that divided a neighborhood, but a project to reunite those neighborhoods, many of those examples are in the south,” said Buttigieg. “Although, I should note, they are all around the country. Buffalo. St. Paul, Minnesota. It’s hard to find a place in the U.S. where this didn’t happen.”
North Texas' cut of the money is for Bridging Highway Divides for DFW Communities.
The project will build pedestrian "caps" for four highways in the area and will be rolled out in phases.
According to the project's fact sheet, the first phase is I-30, which will install support structures for three pedestrian caps/parks to be constructed across the interstate.
"This infrastructure will align with the timing of TxDOT’s reconstruction of IH-30 and it is critical that the base structures be constructed now into the roadway project to avoid the inefficiency of taxpayers paying twice to retrofit later," the project fact sheet reads.
The second phase involves Klyde Warren Park -- extending an existing pedestrian cap/deck park further south to create additional access, connections, and to complete the community vision.
The next project, Southern Gateway Park - Phase 2.0, will complete an initial pedestrian crossing to complete the plaza and connect two roadways to provide complete connections.
The last project, State Highway 5 in McKinney, will be an inverted pedestrian cap that includes the construction of a bridge within the corridor. This will provide pedestrian access in the form of a below-bridge pedestrian plaza.
Secretary Buttigieg is a guest on the April 7, 2024, edition of Inside Texas Politics, where he’ll also provide an update on the high speed rail project that would connect Dallas and Houston. And Buttigieg discusses whether his future includes a role in a possible second Biden Administration, or even elected office.