WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and Congressmen Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, Kweisi Mfume, and David Trone (all D-Md.) announced $15,500,000 for Baltimore City’s Hanover Street Corridor revitalization project. This federal investment will support planning for infrastructure improvements along the 2.4-mile corridor, including efforts to rehabilitate or replace the 108-year-old Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge, develop safe shared-use pedestrian paths and dedicated bike lanes, upgrade sidewalks, and facilitate access to public transit as well as to waterfront parks and trails. Ultimately, these updates will help better connect residents of South Baltimore and improve access to jobs and other services.
The funds are provided through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability & Equity (RAISE) Grants Program, which the lawmakers fought to significantly boost funding for within the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. Today’s announcement comes after the lawmakers wrote in March to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in support of the City’s application for the funding.
“While the Hanover Street Corridor has long been a critical route into Baltimore City from the south, it has also been an obstacle to progress for the communities it passes through. We worked to deliver $15.5 million in funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to improve transit, pedestrian walkways, and other transportation options in South Baltimore. This investment will help realize a new vision for the corridor – a vision to bring neighborhoods together and promote equitable access to economic opportunity for the residents of South Baltimore,” said the lawmakers.
“It is impossible to overstate just how critical the Hanover Street Corridor Revitalization Project is for Baltimoreans, particularly those residents in South Baltimore in neighborhoods like Cherry Hill and Curtis Bay who rely on the corridor for connection to the rest of the city,” said Mayor Brandon M. Scott. “The importance only became heightened following the tragic collapse of the Key Bridge earlier this year, which limited other routes of travel and increased the amount of traffic utilizing the century-old Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge. This federal grant will move this project forward fully with federal dollars and ensure that the Baltimoreans that need it most realize the benefits of this updated transportation corridor. I am deeply grateful to our Congressional delegation, the best that any Mayor could ask for, for their consistent understanding and prioritization of Baltimore, the needs of our residents, and how these projects impact not just our city, but our entire region.”
This project will primarily benefit South Baltimore communities that for generations have been separated by existing transportation infrastructure and industrial land use limitations. The neighborhoods south of the bridge are largely low-income and suffer from high unemployment. Establishing improved transit, pedestrian, and bicycle options will connect residents to the economic opportunities, services, education, food options, health providers, and other essential services and amenities in the downtown area.
The lawmakers worked to authorize the RAISE Grant Program at $7.5 billion over five years under the IIJA. For fiscal year 2024, the program was funded at a combined $1.845 billion from both the infrastructure law and the FY24 government funding bill.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a once-in-a-generation investment in American infrastructure that will provide more than $7 billion in federal funding directly to Maryland over five years to strengthen our infrastructure from transit systems to roads and bridges to water infrastructure, broadband connectivity, and more. The lawmakers worked to secure passage of this law in Congress, which will help spur job creation, enhance U.S. competitiveness, and make our transportation systems more sustainable and equitable.
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