U.S. transportation officials announced $2.2 billion for local infrastructure projects on Thursday, including nearly $41.6 million for Connecticut.
The funding will pave the way for new bridges, roads, bike lanes, railways and ports in scores of communities across the country.
In Connecticut, $23 million will go to Waterbury, $16.3 million will go toward designing and constructing two connected trails in Plainville and New Britain and $2.1 million will go to Stamford.
Trails in New Britain and Plainville
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The first trail will fill the last major gap in the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The second trail will connect the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail to the CTfastrak trail in New Britain.
The Capitol Region Council of Governments applied for the funding and information released by the U.S. Department of Transportation said a separated bicycle/pedestrian trail will address a known safety issue after 54 collisions in the area within the last five years.
Waterbury
The city of Waterbury applied for funding and will receive $23.1 million.
It will go toward the construction of Phase II of the City of Waterbury's section of the Naugatuck River Greenway Trail, which is around 2.3 miles. It will also go toward West Main Street renovation and streetscaping improvements and electrical vehicle charging stations at the Downtown Waterbury Train Station.
Stamford
The city of Stamford applied for funds and will receive $2.1 million for the design and engineering of a “Complete Street” on a little over a mile of the West Main Street corridor to improve safety at nine intersections by adding more visible crosswalks and shorter crossing distances.
The U.S. Department of Transportation said the project also includes adding sidewalks, bus boarding islands and separated bike lanes or shared-use of a travel lane.
There have been 480 collisions with 101 injuries over a four-year period at the nine intersections, according to documentation on the U.S. Department of Transportation website. It goes on to say that this project also supports racial equity because it is addressing severe safety issues in an area with substantial minority populations which heavily rely on walking, biking, or public transit to commute to work.
Learn more about Complete Streets here.
The competitive grants are more than double the amount awarded the previous year under the same program. The influx comes from a $1 trillion infrastructure law backed by President Joe Biden, which provided an additional $7.5 billion over five years for the grants.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the projects would help modernize America’s transportation systems.
“This is a program that recognizes many of the most interesting and compelling ideas and designs and plans aren’t going to come from Washington, but more of the funding should,” Buttigieg said. “That’s what we’re delivering here.”
For many road improvement grants, “we’re doing it in mind of also benefitting the bike and pedestrian side,” Buttigieg said.
Buttigieg said the U.S. Department of Transportation received about $13 billion in grant applications.
A total of 166 projects across the country are getting a slice of the $2.2 billion. The funding marks a significant increase from the $983 million distributed among 90 projects in 2021. The allotment is the largest dating to 2009 for a program that has undergone multiple name and emphasis changes during the presidential administrations of Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
Though still substantial, the funding doesn’t have quite the buying power as anticipated when the infrastructure legislation passed Congress last year. That’s because inflation has driven up the cost of key transportation construction materials, such as steel plates for bridges and asphalt for paving roads.
Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Mo.
