Maryland’s congressional delegation pushes for funding to revive highway to nowhere
Credit: FOX 45, Sinéad Hawkins
Members of Maryland Congressional Delegation have written a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation urging him to fund provide funding for the redevelopment of the “highway to nowhere” in west Baltimore.
On Friday, U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin and Congressmen Kweisi Mfume, Steny H. Hoyer, Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, Anthony G. Brown, Jamie B. Raskin, and David Trone sent the letter to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg in favor of Baltimore City’s Reconnecting Communities Pilot (RCP) program in order to fund the recreation of the stretch of highway that currently doesn’t lead to anywhere.
Over 50 years ago the highway project displaced residents and damaged nearly a thousand homes in a predominantly black neighborhood and divided those communities in various ways.
The Reconnecting Communities Pilot grant program was based on a pilot program created by Senator Van Hollen and introduced by both Senators Van Hollen and Cardin in the Senate and led by Congressmen Brown, Mfume, Ruppersberger, Sarbanes, and Trone in the House.
“We sought to empower and reconnect communities to one another with our legislation. We seek to connect those same communities to economic opportunities, more academic possibilities, arts and entertainment, healthy food options, safe and inviting open-space options, and so much more through the RCP Program,” said the lawmakers.
The new federal grant program is dedicated to reconnecting communities that struggle with economic opportunity because of past infrastructure decisions. The Highway to Nowhere is in Maryland’s 7th Congressional District.
The full letter can be viewed here.
