Car-Free Transportation Gets Boost from U.S. Grant Program
A program that primarily funded highways during the Trump administration has pivoted away from roads in its new disbursement, marking a potential shift in infrastructure spending.
Workers apply orange coating along 90th Avenue in East Oakland, California, in 2019 as part of a paving and redesign project for pedestrian and bicyclist safety.
Photographer: Jane Tyska/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images
A federal grant program that had become a honeypot for rural highway-building in the Trump years has pivoted in favor of projects for sidewalks, bikes and public transit.
In the new tranche of almost $1 billion in RAISE grant selections from the U.S. Department of Transportation announced earlier this month, roads were the losers. RAISE — which stands for Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity — is the latest version of USDOT’s multimodal grant program, which has gone by other names and priorities under previous presidents.