Dive Brief:
- The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure advanced legislation last week to permanently rescind unobligated funds from the Neighborhood Access and Equity program, established by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
- Transportation for America, a nonprofit policy group, found in an April 29 analysis that $3.1 billion of the $3.2 billion program remains unobligated.
- The program, administered by the Federal Highway Administration, helps communities increase walkability, safety and affordable transportation, and funds projects that reconnect communities, especially in disadvantaged and underserved areas.
Dive Insight:
Some 78 projects that were awarded grants under the program may lose their funding if the bill is enacted , according to Transportation for America. The Chicago Transit Authority anticipated receiving $111 million to improve track on part of its rail line; Tucson, Arizona, was awarded $2.6 million for construction of a safer route for pedestrians and cyclists connecting five parks and four schools; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, expected $13.6 million to create a multi-use path connecting neighborhoods to public transportation.
“Grants would be provided to reconnect communities that were separated by transportation infrastructure decades ago,” Rep. Jesús García, D-Ill., said at the committee meeting April 30. “It's not just urban areas that stand to lose. Rural projects in Montana and Oklahoma may also miss out on awarded funding, funding that would have been used to provide safer connections for underserved communities.”
The Neighborhood Access and Equity program acts as a companion program to the Reconnecting Communities Pilot program, a $1 billion initiative of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. According to Transportation for America, the IIJA-funded projects should be at less risk for potential budget cuts.
“Cancelling pending reconnecting communities projects funded by the NAE grant program would be a major loss for communities across the country,” the organization said in a blog post.
