Secures over $236 million for roadway connectivity infrastructure across California

March 12, 2024 - WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Monday, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced $236.9 million in federal funding for 17 California projects to improve neighborhood connectivity, roadway infrastructure, and street safety. The announcement includes $139 million for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority “Removing Barriers and Creating Legacy” project, which will reconnect communities and strengthen mobility across highway and arterial barriers ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The FY 2023 grants come through the Reconnecting Communities Pilot (RCP) Program and the Neighborhood Access and Equity (NAE) Grant Program, established by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, respectively. The RCP was modeled off the Reconnecting Communities Act that Padilla co-led in 2021.

“With the 2028 Olympic Games around the corner, we have a responsibility to invest in transportation infrastructure that both makes the Games run smoothly and makes a lasting improvement to the mobility and connectivity of the communities who need it most,” said Senator Padilla. “For far too long, communities across California have been cut off by the construction of highways and other transportation infrastructure, stifling mobility in the region. Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, we’re reconnecting our communities to decrease pollution, increase job opportunities, and remove barriers to economic and educational opportunity.”

Recipients of the RCP and NAE grants include:

• Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority — $139 million: This project will reconnect communities across highway and arterial barriers by creating multimodal investments: bus speed and reliability improvements, first/last mile strategies and projects, mobility hubs, and non‑capital mobility solutions. These investments will improve connectivity in LA County, providing direct benefit to 1 million disadvantaged Angelenos.

• Alameda County Transportation Commission — $30 million: The Lake Merritt to Bayfair Project will construct approximately 10 miles of complete street improvements in the cities of Oakland and San Leandro as part of the East Bay Greenway Multimodal Project. Project improvements, to improve safety and connectivity between communities, include shared-use paths, protected bikeways, neighborhood routes, protected intersection treatments, pedestrian crossing safety and accessibility improvements, bus stop enhancements to improve speed and passenger comfort, and placemaking features such as benches, pedestrian scale lighting, and landscaping.

• Sacramento Area Council of Governments — $22.5 million: This project will advance planning, engineering, design, and project development activities to address barrier transportation facilities in ten federally designated disadvantaged communities that are (1) locally prioritized for infill development and (2) share the challenge of high volume, autocentric facilities that bisect existing neighborhoods to limit both economic and transportation mobility.

• San Diego Association of Governments — $11 million: This project will mitigate the impacts of industrial use of Harbor Drive and reconnect the community by improving efficiency, safety, and air quality for residents, military personnel, freight stakeholders, and employees in and around the Working Waterfront, a vital corridor in San Diego’s freight network. Benefits include enhancing access, improving safety, and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions from truck idling, improving economic competitiveness of Working Waterfront industries.

• Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority — $9.96 million: The project is a partnership between LA Metro, Caltrans, and LA County Public Works and consists of the construction of a dedicated pedestrian and bicycle overcrossing adjacent to the existing Humphreys Avenue bridge over I-710 in the historically disadvantaged community of East Los Angeles, California. It also includes complementary pedestrian safety and accessibility improvements such as upgraded crosswalks, ADA-compliant curb ramps, and improved sidewalks.

• Port of Los Angeles — $5 million: This funding will support a pedestrian bridge over two mainline freight tracks in the Port of Los Angeles (the largest port complex in the Western Hemisphere), which can accommodate emergency vehicles and connects the economically disadvantaged Wilmington community with the Wilmington Waterfront.

A full list of California projects receiving funding is available here.

Last year, Senator Padilla announced over $35 million for California in the first round of funding from the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program. Padilla also announced a combined $272 million last year for California from the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Grant Program, which funds regional, local, and Tribal initiatives to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries.

More information on the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Grant Program, which combines funding opportunities for the RCP and NAE, is available here.
Source: Senator Alex Padilla