The new grants supplement the $1 billion in funding from the Reconnecting Communities Program, created through last year’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. It aims to help jurisdictions address division of neighborhoods, pollution and other harms caused by past infrastructure projects.
The Neighborhood Access and Equity Grants can be used, for example, to cover a highway or convert it into a boulevard, add bike lanes or sound barriers, provide better connections to transit, build “green” stormwater infrastructure, add new safety features and more. Unlike IIJA money, the IRA funds cannot be used to build single-occupant car lanes.
