News

Jul 05, 2023

Washington

At least 15 miles of trails will be constructed or revitalized in communities spanning Prince George’s County, Montgomery County and D.C. with help from a $25 million federal grant that local leaders

At least 15 miles of trails will be constructed or revitalized in communities spanning Prince George’s County, Montgomery County and D.C. with help from a $25 million federal grant that local leaders highlighted on Monday.

The investment — part of a competitive Department of Transportation program that targets projects with national or regional impact — will advance more than $70 million in efforts to enhance recreational and economic opportunities, local leaders said, improving trail access for nearly 300,000 residents.

The award will support construction of the Central Avenue Connector Trail along the Blue Line Corridor, a key component of the economic and community development strategy that Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) has laid out to bring amenities to parts of the county that historically have gone overlooked.

“The completion of this project will provide cyclists and pedestrians an alternative to highway travel and will also provide convenient access to the new regional hospital in downtown Largo, as well as schools and regional parks,” Alsobrooks said at a news conference, noting that it is the second Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant for the county in the past calendar year. “I want everyone to hear that our county had never been a recipient of a federal RAISE grant.”

Alsobrooks’s office applied for the grant in late February on behalf of the Prince George’s County Department of Parks and Recreation, Montgomery Parks and the District Department of Transportation. Congressional members and Maryland Department of Transportation officials wrote letters emphasizing the importance of the application.

Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt at the news conference underscored the competitive nature of the grants, adding that $2.2 billion RAISE grants have been awarded out of $15 billion for projects around the nation in the most recent round of the grant’s funding.

Wes Moore relaunches Baltimore’s Red Line, but big questions remain

Seventy percent of the grants are going to projects in places defined as an Area of Persistent Poverty or a Historically Disadvantaged Community, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The funds are part of a broader vision for connecting Marylanders under the administration of Gov. Wes Moore (D) and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller (D), which has seen the relaunch of Baltimore’s Red Line and other projects, said Sen. Ben Cardin (D), who lauded the Biden administration’s investments in Maryland. Moore and Miller joined Biden and Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in January to launch the B&P Tunnel Replacement Program in Baltimore, which officials said then would receive more than $4 billion in federal support.

The list of projects federal officials announced this summer also included $20 million for improvements at the Mondawmin Transit Station in Baltimore County. Prince George’s County previously received $20.5 million in RAISE grant funding for the construction of the New Carrollton Multi-Modal Transportation Station Project.

Miller on Monday said the RAISE grant’s equity lens has ushered in revitalization of historically disinvested areas, and she noted that trails can offer benefits such as reducing traffic, decreasing pollution and preserving the environment.

“The new trails and renovations will provide access to our regional historically disadvantaged communities whereby 80 percent of the households identify as Black or Hispanic and where 90 percent of the households are low income,” she said. “Equitable transportation is a critical aspect of a just and thriving society as it enables individuals to participate fully in social, economic and civic life.”

Equity and more investment have been part of the chorus Alsobrooks and the Maryland delegation have been singing for years as they wait on a decision about where the next FBI headquarters will be placed — in one of two Prince George’s locations or a spot in Fairfax County, Va.

Standing on the site where the Central Avenue Connector Trail will be, longtime Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) gave directions to where he grew up and attended school as a child, underscoring that he was delighted to see “regeneration” in a familiar area.

“As the congressman who grew up … just a couple of miles away from here, who went to high school here, who played baseball,” he said, “I am so glad to see this $25 million, which seems like at the federal level, a relatively modest sum, will have such a great impact, such a tremendous impact on this neighborhood and our families.”