By Charles Pekow — The goodies keep coming from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In late June, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced 162 RAISE grants across the country for transportation infrastructure. RAISE grants, a discretionary program expanded under the latest surface transportation reauthorization, go to communities of all sizes for infrastructure construction, repair, and planning projects to help people get around, with added benefits such as combating climate change and improving safety. This year, the administration divided the funding equally between rural and urban communities. Each state got at least one. Many should help bicyclists in the Mountain West., to wit:
- West Valencia Road: Creating Safe and Equitable Community Connections in Pima County, AZ. The $20 million grant will improve approximately 1.3 miles of West Valencia Road, from Camino de la Tierra to Mission Road, including buffered bike lanes.
- Phoenix Cultural Corridor Project in Phoenix, AZ. This $10,220,242 grant goes to improving 3.3 miles of roadway, including bicycle facilities between downtown, South Phoenix, and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
- US-95 Safety Improvements: Wellton-Mohawk Canal To Aberdeen Road Project. This $8.5 million planning grant will finish design of safety improvements of about nine miles of US 95 and allow for cycling along the roadway.
- Colorado 119 Diagonal Highway Mobility Improvement Project, $25 million to build multimodal improvements including a bikeway between Boulder and Longmount with connections along the way. The project includes adding adaptive signal controls and AI cameras to monitor pedestrian and bicycle usage.
- US66 and Wadsworth Interchange and Multimodal Improvements Project in Lakewood, CO. The $20 million grant will include building a 10-foot-wide multi-use path along both sides of Wadsworth Boulevard between 4th and 8th avenues, allowing bike access to a park, railroad station, school, and grocery stores.
- Delta Revitalizing Main Street Project, Delta, CO. $13,196,356 to reconstruct Main Street and include bike lanes between 13th and 16th streets.
- Foothills Transit Station and Roundabout in Fort Collins, CO. This $10,713,570 project will build a Foothills Transit Station in the West Elizabeth transit corridor and a roundabout at the intersection of Overland Trail and West Elizabeth, an area without a transit hub. Planners anticipate the hub will generate many bike trips.
- Idaho Springs Downtown Mobility Plan, Idaho Springs, CO. The $2.431 million planning grant will finish design of a transit hub and related infrastructure, including a connection to the Clear Creek Greenway and a Complete Streets plan to provide separate lanes for autos, pedestrians, and cyclists.
- North Portneuf Crossing, Pocatello, ID. The $7.75 million grant includes upgrading and adding bike facilities in the area around North Kraft Road and North Main Extension.
- McCall ID-55 and Deinhard-Boydstun Corridor Design. The Idaho Department of Transportation gets $2,877,512 to plan and design improvements in the area in downtown McCall, which should make it more bikeable.
- Downtown Safety and Mobility Project. Missoula, MT. A $24,535,398 grant goes toward building a downtown transit network, including protected bike lanes and a widening of the Riverfront Trail, with connections to downtown. It also aims to close gaps in bike trails.
- Marcus Street Multimodal Planning and Design Study, Hamilton, MT. The $877,275 planning grant will go to design multimodal use of about 1.5-miles of the Marcus Street/SR-269 corridor, including adding bicycle lanes.
- Uptown Connect: The Uptown Transit Center Joint Development, Albuquerque, NM. The $25 million grant will rebuild the transit plaza on America’s Parkway, between Uptown Boulevard NE and Indian School Road NE, which should reduce cycling accidents, a common occurrence in the area.
- Ely Downtown Infrastructure and Complete Streets Project. The Nevada Department of Transportation gets $24,009,830 to rebuild US-50/West Aultman Street from 1st Street to Bell Avenue and US-93/East Aultman Street from East 10th Street to East 15th Street in downtown Ely. The project will include Complete Streets elements to improve bicycle safety.
- Charleston Boulevard High-Capacity Transit Planning, $5,861,631 to the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada to plan a transit corridor revamp between Pavilion Center Drive in Summerlin and Nellis Boulevard in East Las Vegas, including “dedicated bicycle lanes.”
- First/Last Mile Connections: Improving Communities’ Quality of Life, $24,494,147 to the Utah Department of Transportation to build active transportation infrastructure at about 23 light rail and bus stops along the Wasatch Front which are designed to make it safer to pedal to and from mass transit.
- Spine Through the Heart of Utah, a $750,000 planning grant to the Spring City Corporation in Sanpete County, UT to study building about 47 miles of multi-use trails in the county. The study will address gaps in the bike network and seek to promote bicycle tourism.
Details at https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2023-06/RAISE%202023%20Fact%20Sheets_0.pdf
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