California will receive more than $35 million through the first round of funding from the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program. The program will fund the planning, design, demolition and reconstruction of street grids, parks, or other infrastructure to reconnect communities divided by transportation infrastructure.

Projects receiving funding include:

• $30 million for the city of Long Beach to reconfigure West Shoreline Drive to remove a roadway barrier and improve access and connectivity between Downtown Long Beach and public open space;
• $2 million for the city of Pasadena to support the study of transportation and land use needs related to the future redevelopment of the I-710 "northern stub" that was recently transferred to the city;
• $2 million for the city of San Jose to assess the feasibility and conceptual designs for converting Monterey Road from a highway to a "complete street" safe for all road users;
• $680,000 for Caltrans and the city of Oakland to explore ways to reconnect communities divided by transportation infrastructure along Interstate 980.
• $600,000 for the city of Fresno to support planning activities for a pedestrian bridge that crosses State Route 99 and connects Parkway Drive and Roeding Park, primarily serving the Jane Addams Neighborhood.

"We are excited to see five California projects receive funding as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation's first Reconnecting Communities Pilot Project grant awards," said California State Transportation Agency Secretary Toks Omishakin. "Transportation should always improve access to opportunity and be a uniter not a divider. These awards, coupled with the forthcoming $150 million state investment for a parallel Highways to Boulevards pilot program, will allow California neighborhoods divided by transportation infrastructure – particularly communities of color – to take steps to remove literal barriers to opportunity and begin making up for past harms."

For more information, visit https://www.transportation.gov/grants/reconnecting-communities

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