Main Spotlight: How Communities Are Reimagining Streets for Everyone
Learn how Main Streets in Philadelphia are using active transportation to foster healthier and more connected communities.
Transportation infrastructure that once divided communities, like this overpass in Birmingham, Alabama, can be transformed into vibrant public spaces. © Alicia Gallo
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Reconnecting Communities Pilot (RCP) Program is a transformative initiative aimed at addressing the adverse effects of transportation infrastructure that have historically divided communities. The RCP Program is awarded on a competitive basis for projects that reconnect communities by removing, retrofitting, or mitigating highways or other transportation facilities that create barriers to community connectivity, including to mobility, access, or economic development. Importantly for Main Streets, the grant can be used for conversion to Complete Streets to improve pedestrian access, safety, and promote multi-modal transportation. The notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) has been released, and applications are accepted until September 30, 2024.
Main Streets, which often serve as the economic and cultural heart of communities, can greatly benefit from the RCP Program. By removing or retrofitting barriers like highways, these grants can be used to transform Main Streets into more accessible, safe, and vibrant spaces. Example projects include:
- Accessible: Removing large infrastructure barriers like highways and enhancing access to public transportation by improving local roadway networks, pedestrian networks, and transit networks can make Main Streets more accessible to all community members, including those on foot, those with disabilities, and those who rely on public transit. Increased accessibility may also support small businesses with increased foot traffic and sales.
- Safe: When grants are implemented in tandem with widening of sidewalks, installation of pedestrian crossings, and the addition of traffic calming measures, Main Streets can achieve safer environments for pedestrians.
- Vibrant: Main Street districts that remove or retrofit highway infrastructure can repurpose land and create or enhance public plazas, parks, and other communal spaces. These areas serve as social and cultural hubs, encouraging community interaction and local events.
By investing in these types of improvements, the RCP Program helps create Main Streets that are not only more functional, but also serve as vibrant hubs of community, fostering economic growth and social cohesion.
Overview of the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program
The RCP Program is designed to fund planning and capital construction projects that aim to restore community connectivity by removing, retrofitting, or mitigating transportation facilities like highways and rail lines that have created barriers. This initiative recognizes the importance of inclusive and equitable urban planning, ensuring that all communities, particularly those historically marginalized, have access to the benefits of modern infrastructure.
Some of the goals of the RCP Program include:
- Promote Equity: By addressing the physical and social divides created by past transportation projects, the RCP Program seeks to advance Justice40 goals and create more inclusive and connected communities.
- Improve Access to Daily Needs: Reconnecting communities can lead to safer, more walkable neighborhoods with easier access to jobs, education, healthcare, food, nature, and recreation.
- Enhance Economic Opportunities: Improved connectivity can lead to increased economic development, job creation, and access to essential services.
The Reconnecting Communities Program offers funding to repurpose transportation infrastructure to create vibrant places. © Abraham Barrera
Funding and Eligibility
The RCP Program provides grants to a diverse range of applicants, including state and local governments, tribal entities, metropolitan planning organizations, and nonprofit organizations. Projects eligible for funding include:
- Community Planning Grants: These grants fund the study of removing, retrofitting, or mitigating an existing facility to restore community connectivity; public engagement; and other transportation planning activities. Eligible applicants include:
- a state
- a unit of local government
- a Tribal government
- a Metropolitan Planning Organization; or,
- a non-profit organization
- Capital Construction Grants: These grants fund a project to remove, retrofit, mitigate, or to replace an existing eligible facility with a new facility that reconnects communities. Eligible applicants include:
- owner(s) of the eligible facility proposed in the project for which all necessary feasibility studies and other planning activities have been completed; or
- an eligible Community Planning Grant applicant may submit the application in partnership with the facility owner to carry out the proposed project.
An eligible facility is a highway or other surface transportation facility that creates a barrier to community connectivity, including barriers to mobility, access, or economic development due to high speeds, grade separations, or other design factors. Eligible facilities include limited access highways, viaducts, any other principal arterial facilities, and other facilities such as transit lines and rail lines.
How to Apply
Applications are due Thursday, September 30, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. EDT.
Main Street organizations interested in applying for the RCP Program grants can find detailed application guidelines and deadlines on the USDOT website. Additionally, explore the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods StoryMap for more information on past projects and potential uses in your community.
Before submitting your materials, you must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number in order to apply. To request a UEI, please visit SAM.gov. Note that this may take up to 30 days.
Important to note: Applicants must submit their applications via Valid Eval, a third-party web-based evaluation platform used by USDOT and other Federal programs to support program evaluation. Grants.gov will have the RCP Program opportunity posted, but applicants cannot apply through Grants.gov.
Potential applicants who are interested in pursuing a reconnecting type project but are not prepared to submit funding requests within 90 days can submit a request for technical assistance through the Reconnecting Communities Institute. Many reconnecting projects are also eligible for funding under formula programs or eligible discretionary grant programs. More information can be found on DOT’s Discretionary Grants Dashboard.
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