Latest news with #NeighborhoodAccessandEquity
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Will Austin still get $105M federal grant for I-35 ‘cap'? New budget proposal paints grim picture
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The city of Austin is still waiting to see if it will have $105 million to build a key 'cap' over the Texas Department of Transportation's I-35 expansion project, but an announcement Tuesday from Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves, R-Missouri, makes that likelihood seem smaller. According to a news release from Graves, the committee's soon to be discussed budget reconciliation proposal 'rescinds unobligated funds and eliminates seven unnecessary Green New Deal style programs created in the Inflation Reduction Act.' 'This includes Neighborhood Access and Equity Grants…progressive priorities that are either duplicative, are projects that states and other entities may pursue if they prioritize them, or are efforts that should be driven by the industry and not mandated by the federal government,' a news release said. It's a $105 million Neighborhood Access and Equity (NAE) grant previously awarded to Austin that would have funded the cap from Cesar Chavez to 4th Street. That grant was already in limbo but now appears very much on the chopping block. Austin's vote on I-35 cap and stitch funding delayed again amid federal funding uncertainty The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is expected to discuss the budget reconciliation proposal Wednesday morning. 'With this proposal, the Committee is doing its part to ensure that Republicans fulfill our promise to the American people and the promise of the President's America First agenda,' Graves said in a release. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said the following on the Austin City Council message board: 'We received word today that the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-MO) released his piece of the massive budget reconciliation package that the House leadership hopes to pass before Memorial Day. The House T&I Committee has instructions to produce its portion a piece of the reconciliation package that provides a new reduction of the federal budget deficit of $10 billion over 10 years. The bill would rescind all unobligated balances from the Neighborhood Access & Equity Grant Program, including the $105 million that USDOT awarded to Cesar Chavez to 4th Street portion of I-35 Cap & Stitch. It is expected that the T&I Committee will approve the bill by a party line vote when they take it up tomorrow morning. After that, the T&I bill will be combined with bills from other House committees and be voted on by the full House sometime in May, if the leadership's schedule holds. The overall budget reconciliation bill could face some hurdles on the House floor, especially if, as expected, it outlines reduced spending on Medicaid and nutrition programs. It will also face challenges in the Senate. So, there is still some chance that the grant could make it. However, we should expect that a budget reconciliation bill will reach the President's desk and that it will include rescission of many unobligated balances form Inflation Reduction Act programs.' Caps and stitches would look like deck plazas and community spaces over the wider I-35 near downtown to better connect east and west Austin. In a November 2024 council work session, city staff said they believe building out the full cap and stitch vision plan would cost over $1 billion. The deadline for Austin to commit funding to TxDOT for the roadway elements is the end of May, according to a memo from city staff last month. 'It's just another one of these great unknowns. Cap and stitch is a very expensive project by itself. This $100 million grant helps to alleviate some of those costs,' Austin City Council Member Ryan Alter has previously said. 'We have to make a decision in May and we don't even know if this $100 million from the federal government is going to be available. It's making life very difficult, very unpredictable.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Planning begins on $18.4M Bill Sims trail improvements
Feb. 5—Planning has begun on the Dr. Bill Sims Trail's Reconnecting Old Town project, which is funded by an $18.41 million federal grant. Community Development Manager Allen Stover, who is managing the grant, said this week that he and a group of city employees met last week with AECOM, the preliminary engineer on the project. The city received a Reconnecting Communities Pilot and Neighborhood Access and Equity grant in March 2024. The project is part of the Singing River Trail, a 220-mile project that aims to connect many trails across north Alabama. According to the grant announcement, the improvement of the Bill Sims trail — referred to as the Dr. Bill Sims Hike-Bike Way in the grant application — is aimed at "reconnecting communities that were cut off by transportation infrastructure decades ago, leaving entire neighborhoods without direct access to opportunity, like schools, jobs, medical offices, and places of worship." Stover said AECOM is working on preliminary options for the Bill Sims trail, which will extend the trail for the first time into Old Town Decatur. AECOM is working on the options while Stover forms a community advisory committee. This group will consist primarily of people who were involved in working on the grant application, he said. "AECOM is getting some stuff together that the community advisory committee can review in three or four weeks," Stover said. He said the advisory committee will review the options and then promote public meetings that are planned for the spring. According to the grant application, "The project seeks to address two dividing and burdening facilities, Highway 20 and the railroad, by improving crossings. Proposed projects include enhancing an at-grade crossing of Highway 20 at Oak Street, directing pedestrians and cyclists to an existing pedestrian bridge over the railroad, and improving conditions of an existing tunnel under Highway 20." Stover said some of the proposals in the grant application "conflict with points managed by the railroad and ALDOT (Alabama Department of Transportation) that aren't going to change." The biggest change will be the extension into Old Town, one of the city's oldest neighborhoods, a predominantly Black area in Northwest Decatur. The project area is located within the city on the south side of the Tennessee River. According to the grant application, the 8.77-mile project extends from Point Mallard Park to Benjamin Davis Elementary School in Northwest Decatur. The project adds new safety enhancements to the existing Bill Sims trail. The project design will include "new shared use paths, streetscape improvements, separated bicycle lanes, mid-block crossings, sidewalks, and new streetscape elements like lighting and landscaping." The streetscape improvements would be along Vine and Sycamore streets, according to the grant application. The project would increase access to parks and commercial redevelopment along the Tennessee River and create safer and more connected walking and bicycling facilities in Old Town and along the riverfront. Mayor Tab Bowling said the trail planning is exciting, particularly since it's another quality-of-life project for his administration. "It's good to know that it's being done by a team (AECOM) that's done this in other cities across the country," Bowling said. "Hopefully, this is going to be a smooth project since we won't have a lot of of rights-of-way acquisitions." Bowling said there was concern and then relief last month when President Donald Trump froze federal grants but then ended the freeze. The no-match grant requires the completion of the project by Nov. 30, 2026. "Much of the timeline will be dictated by right-of-way acquisition," Stover said. "But the good thing is a lot of the project is improving the existing trail." — or 256-340-2432
