LANSING, MI — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announces that the Biden-Harris Administration has awarded $52 million to support four projects in Michigan from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program to help move forward on projects that modernize roads, bridges, transit, rail, ports, and intermodal transportation and make the transportation systems safer, more accessible, more affordable, and more sustainable.

This year’s total allocations nationwide include more than $2.2 billion due to the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides an additional $7.5 billion over five years for the program to help meet the strong demand to help projects get moving across the country.

“We are proud to support so many outstanding infrastructure projects in communities large and small, modernizing America’s transportation systems to make them safer, more affordable, more accessible, and more sustainable,” Buttigieg said. “Using funds from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this year we are supporting more projects than ever before.”

Projects were evaluated on several criteria, including safety, environmental sustainability, quality of life, economic competitiveness and opportunity, partnership and collaboration, innovation, state of good repair, and mobility and community connectivity. Within these areas, the department considered how projects will improve accessibility for all travelers, bolster supply chain efficiency, and support racial equity and economic growth — especially in historically disadvantaged communities and areas of persistent poverty.

In Michigan, the following projects will benefit from RAISE awards:

The Michigan Department of Transportation will receive $25 million to reconstruct approximately 1.9 miles of US-12 (Michigan Avenue) to create a multimodal corridor in Downtown and Corktown Detroit. The construction will include installation of new dedicated transit and connected autonomous vehicle lanes along US-12 between I-96 and M-1. The project will also replace old brick road pavers with new ones. The project will transform an urban highway designed to move motorized traffic into a multimodal facility with improvements for pedestrian, cyclists, and transit users. Currently, bus stops lack shelter and seating, and are separated from buses by bike lanes and parking lanes, creating safety concerns. The project will add mid-block crossings, curb bump-outs, dedicated turn lanes, restriction of through lanes, and relocation of transit stops that will improve safety for pedestrians accessing transit.The City of Kalamazoo will receive a $5.9-million planning grant for redesign to make Downtown Kalamazoo more walkable based upon a Complete Streets design, including converting Kalamazoo Avenue from a one-way street to a two-way street. The high-speed and high-volume corridor of downtown has separated neighborhoods, perpetuated old “redline district” boundaries, and contributed significantly to the speed-related crash rates that are higher per million vehicles than I-94. The project has and will continue to utilize the city’s Public Participation Plan to implement a diverse community engagement process during design and construction.The Cadillac/Wexford Transit Authority will receive $1.3 million for a planning project involving the development of a Service Development Plan to consider new train services through 15 counties between southeast Michigan and northern lower Michigan. The project will help reduce vehicle miles traveled, reduce emissions, reduce crashes, and increase mobility options. Additionally, it could help expand access to essential services, such as educational and employment opportunities.The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians will receive nearly $19.8 million to make multimodal improvements on critical routes to essential services, including reconstructing 3 Mile Road with a non‐motorized path, reconstructing the Shunk Road corridor, redesigning and reconstructing the Casino Road loop, among other improvements. This project will provide improved, reliable, and equitable connections between housing, schools, the community center, and essential services for the Tribal members and the surrounding community. The current state of many of these roads makes them an ongoing maintenance project, which recurs every spring, and costs the community money. The project will result in significant maintenance savings. The project also has some innovative components including solar powered-lighting and the use of online platforms to conduct targeted public outreach to the road service areas.