Secretary Buttigieg and Black mayors preview transportation projects designed to heal historic inequities
CNN
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Friday joined Black mayors from across the nation to preview the work his department is doing to bring transportation projects to their communities to correct historic wrongs.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Friday joined Black mayors from across the nation to preview the work his department is doing to bring transportation projects to their communities to correct historic wrongs. The projects, made possible through the Biden administration’s $3.3 billion “Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods” program, were among the issues discussed at the annual African American Mayors Association Conference in Atlanta. More than 130 grants have been awarded across 41 states to improve the lives of residents negatively impacted by decades-old transportation structures, according to Buttigieg. That includes addressing highways built several decades ago that have cut off access to schools, career opportunities and even medical services. In an interview with CNN, Buttigieg said the investment aims to strengthen communities across the nation and create opportunity through better connectivity. “This is about making sure that federal dollars are part of the solution in communities where sometimes federal dollars have caused harm in the past,” he said. “Just about every place I’ve been to has some story of some piece of infrastructure that went through some part of town, often a community of color, that did not have the political power to reshape or resist it.” Some of the grants, including one in Atlanta, Georgia, involve capping highways.
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