ATLANTA, GA — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announces that the Biden Administration will invest nearly $1 billion in American infrastructure through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grants program. The funding has been awarded to 90 projects in 47 states and the District of Columbia and Guam.

“We’re proud to support these great projects that will improve infrastructure, strengthen supply chains, make us safer, advance equity, and combat climate change,” Buttigieg said. “As in past years, we received far more applications than we could fund; this cycle saw about a ten-to-one ratio of requests to available dollars. But going forward, with the passage of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we will be able to support far more infrastructure projects to support jobs and everyday life in communities across the country."

The program selection criteria encompassed safety, environmental sustainability, quality of life, economic competitiveness, state of good repair, innovation, and partnerships with a range of stakeholders. Within these criteria, the grants reflect the department’s priorities for creating good-paying jobs, improving safety, applying technology, and addressing climate change and advancing racial equity.

Listed below is an example of FY21 in the Dixie Contractor area:

The City of Atlanta will receive a $900,000 planning grant to advance a project to “cap” Interstates 75/85 in downtown Atlanta. The cap will reconnect the divided Midtown and the Old Fourth Ward communities that were separated from downtown Atlanta by construction of the Downtown I-75/85 Connector. Once completed, the project, known as the “Stitch,” will reconnect the local community with pedestrian-oriented, multimodal streets. The planning phase of this project includes community engagement; multimodal transportation analysis; zoning, land use, and affordable housing policy recommendations; a sustainability strategy; and park design.

The proposed construction phase of this project will also enhance pedestrian infrastructure with approximately 14 acres of greenspace and accelerate the building of affordable housing.