Biden-Harris Administration Announces $37.47 Million for Locally-Led Projects That Reconnect Communities in Colorado

Today, President Biden and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced $37,475,000 for the state of Colorado for projects through the Reconnecting Communities Pilot and Neighborhood Access and Equity discretionary grant programs as part of President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda. The funding is aimed at reconnecting communities that were cut off by transportation infrastructure decades ago, leaving entire neighborhoods without direct access to opportunities, like schools, jobs, medical offices and places of worship.

Thanks to additional funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, this investment is 18 times larger than the investments from the previous year’s standalone Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program.  Both programs are part of the President’s Justice40 Initiative.

“While the purpose of transportation is to connect, in too many communities past infrastructure decisions have served instead to divide. Now the Biden-Harris administration is acting to fix that,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “Today we are proud to announce an unprecedented $3.3 billion to help 132 communities deliver better infrastructure that reconnects residents to jobs, health care, and other essentials.”

The Department has created a virtual story that spotlights communities’ stories, the historic context for the program, and the future it seeks through funding the reconnection of communities here.

In this round of funding for the Reconnecting Communities Pilot and Neighborhood Access and Equity program, Colorado received two grants. Awarded projects include:

$2,000,000 for Removing the Highway Barrier: Equitably Restoring Colfax and Federal Mobility and Land Use (“The Project”) in Denver

The project will complete critical planning, design, and public outreach work to remove a cloverleaf interchange barrier, reconnect neighborhoods and reimagine land use opportunities that reflect community needs and desires.

The project deliverables include preliminary engineering, completion of NEPA process, and achieving 10% design. The reconfigured intersection will better connect residents to employment and economic opportunity, support the reduction of particulate matter exposure and traffic proximity and volume and lead to improved health outcomes by encouraging active transportation through upgraded infrastructure for transit, pedestrians and bicyclists.

The project will implement green infrastructure in the project area and facilitate connections to the South Platte River Trail. Converting this interchange will redress past harm, remove barriers for the community and benefit nearby communities, and all of Denver, for generations to come.

$35,475,000 for Reunited Denver Project Globeville Elyria-Swansea in Denver

The Reunited Denver Project will reconnect Globeville and Elyria-Swansea neighborhoods by eliminating both natural and man-made barriers with construction of new bike, pedestrian and greenway facilities and remediation of a large previously unusable brownfield site.

The project will include four elements:

• A New multimodal bridge over the South Platte River with a connective greenway corridor
• A new pedestrian bridge over the BNSF, DRIR and RTD tracks connecting to RTD’s transit station at Brighton Blvd.
• Construction of at-grade railroad crossing safety improvements on National Western Drive.
• Reclaiming land for neighborhood uses.

The full list of Reconnecting Communities Pilot and Neighborhood Access and Equity awards can be viewed here.

These programs are part of President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which set the goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. The Department prioritized applications from disadvantaged communities that demonstrated strong community engagement and stewardship to advance equity and environmental justice, and would catalyze shared prosperity project development and job creation. 

The Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program (RCP) in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has been combined with the newly-established Neighborhood Access and Equity discretionary grant program in the Inflation Reduction Act.