By JEFF McMURRAY
CHICAGO (AP) — President Donald Trump’s transportation division has been pulling again grants already introduced for leisure trails and bicycle lanes, telling native officers their initiatives fail to advertise street capability or are “hostile to motor autos.”
The division lately despatched letters to native governments in not less than six states — Alabama, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts and New Mexico — informing them it was withdrawing cash awarded underneath the $1.1 trillion infrastructure regulation former President Joe Biden signed in 2021.
The reversals are among the many clearest indicators but of the drastic shift from the Biden administration’s emphasis on various transportation, corresponding to transit and biking, to the Trump administration’s deal with preserving and increasing lanes for automobiles and vans.
Whereas the brand new grants Trump’s transportation division has introduced this yr replicate that change, it’s virtually unprecedented for an administration to claw again grants awarded by a predecessor with no compelling motive, corresponding to potential environmental harms. Nevertheless, the newest recalled initiatives didn’t have totally funded grant agreements in place, which might have made reversing them far trickier.
The transportation division’s press workplace didn’t reply to emails requesting remark.
Prioritizing roads, not trails
Connecticut gained a $5.7 million federal grant final summer time to assist design segments of a 44-mile (71-kilometer) leisure path connecting a number of communities alongside the Naugatuck River.
Rick Dunne, govt director of the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments, mentioned the grant’s remaining particulars had been being negotiated when the U.S. Division of Transportation despatched a letter this month to tell native officers that the undertaking wouldn’t transfer ahead. The company needs “multimodal grant packages” to deal with “initiatives that promote vehicular journey,” the letter defined.
“They’re defining high quality of life for Individuals as enhancing car operations,” Dunne mentioned.
The identical motive was given in a letter despatched to Albuquerque, New Mexico, pulling $11.5 million in funding for a leg of a rail path chopping by way of town’s core. It was among the many first energetic transportation initiatives awarded underneath the infrastructure regulation, with funding introduced in 2022, nevertheless it was nonetheless going by way of the approval course of.
“We’re going to arise for Albuquerque and stop the Trump Administration from pulling cash from a undertaking the individuals of Albuquerque need,” Mayor Tim Keller mentioned in a press launch. “We’ll see you in courtroom.”
Kevin Mills, vp of coverage for the Rails to Trails Conservancy, referred to as the cuts “an affront to the priorities set by Congress and Individuals’ calls for for safer, extra handy strolling and biking routes.”
DOT additionally withdrew a $20 million grant awarded in 2022 to remodel three streetscapes in Boston. The reversal was based mostly partly on the undertaking’s electrical automobile charging stations, which the administration mentioned contradicted its desire for selling “conventional types of vitality and pure assets,” the Boston Globe reported.
No undertaking too small to chop
A few of the withdrawn initiatives had been comparatively small in {dollars} and scope however nonetheless focused for reversal because of the division’s altering priorities.
One utilized to only a single block in San Diego County, California, the place the group wished to check whether or not it might enhance security with out disrupting visitors stream. It sought to make use of “inventive roadway options” corresponding to roundabouts instead of visitors indicators, with plans to broaden the strategy to different intersections if the mannequin proved profitable, mentioned Donna Durckel, spokesperson for the county’s Land Use and Setting Group.
However Trump’s transportation officers flagged it as “hostile to motor autos” in a letter despatched Sept. 9 as a result of the undertaking included a so-called street eating regimen that will have lowered the stretch from 4 lanes to 2.
On the identical day, McLean County in central Illinois obtained an analogous letter recalling federal funding awarded final yr to assist design a remaining 9-mile phase of a motorbike and pedestrian path alongside Route 66. County engineer Jerry Stokes mentioned the undertaking wouldn’t have an effect on motorcar journey however would promote security by getting bicyclists and pedestrians off the street.
“We’re form of at a standstill now till new funding sources change into accessible,” he mentioned.
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