Pine Bluff set to receive over $500,000 from feds for downtown highway retrofit

PINE BLUFF, Ark. – Federal officials said Wednesday that Pine Bluff would receive over $500,000 to retrofit a downtown highway in order to revitalize the community.

A joint announcement from President Joe Biden and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated that Pine Bluff would receive $548,9432 toward retrofitting Arkansas State Highway 63B.

The initial phase of the retrofit plan is a study to determine how best to size the 1.2-mile section of highway for connection from the downtown to the Jefferson Regional Medical Center, the largest employer in the city.

The project's title submitted for funding is "Neighborhood Revitalization through Retrofit of Highway 63B in America's Fastest Shrinking City: Pine Bluff, Arkansas."

The money is from the federal Justice40 Initiative. Officials said the initiative would reconnect communities cut off from transportation infrastructure created decades ago, sometimes leaving neighborhoods without direct access to opportunities like schools, jobs, medical offices and places of worship.

"While the purpose of transportation is to connect, in too many communities past infrastructure decisions have served instead to divide," Buttigieg said.

A total of $3.3 billion in funding for 132 communities was announced Wednesday, with Pine Bluff as the sole Arkansas recipient.

Additional information, including the grant application process, may be found on the U.S. Department of Transportation's Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Grant Program page.

from KARK https://ift.tt/Vke4QLA