Biden administration transportation officials joined Pittsburgh regional leaders Thursday to celebrate a monumental investment in the city’s Hill District neighborhood. The city will receive $11.3 million from the bipartisan infrastructure deal to make a list of improvements along Centre Avenue.
Pittsburgh will receive one of only two federal grants in Pennsylvania from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity program. Stephanie Pollack, acting administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, said at a press conference atop the Thelma Lovette YMCA that Pittsburgh’s proposal won out over other cities partly because of the collaboration among the region’s different levels of government and its private partnerships.
“The way that the private sector, the city, the county, Pennsylvania D.O.T. had already laid the groundwork by creating the vision,” Pollack said. “That was one of the things that really shone in the application for this Hill District Project.”
Pollack’s Pittsburgh appearance was part of a nationwide tour led by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Officials are underlining the benefits of a massive investment in infrastructure ahead of the midterm elections in November.
Another key factor in Pittsburgh’s successful grant application was the city’s plan to invest the money in a low-income area that had historically been left out of the picture of development, Pollack said. The RAISE grant program focuses on promoting investment in neighborhoods that have historically suffered from racist federal policies, such as redlining that prevented residents from attaining wealth and — in Pittsburgh’s case — catalyzed the displacement of a large community still waiting for its chance to rebuild.
The RAISE grant comes alongside other historic investments in rebuilding the Hill District, specifically the Lower Hill. A new grocery store is slated to open on Centre Avenue in the coming months. The Pittsburgh Penguins are moving along with their plan to construct a 26-story office tower at the former Civic Arena site. Several other developers have stuck their flags in construction sites at buildings along Centre Avenue.
Alluding to those projects, Mayor Ed Gainey said Thursday that the $11.3 million grant “couldn’t have come at a better time.”
“This is how we rebuild the vibrancy of the Hill District. This is how we create economic opportunity,” Gainey said. “This is what we do in order to restore what was taken from this neighborhood. And it starts with infrastructure.”
According to the Department of Transportation, the grant will support “human-focused infrastructure investment.” The city will reconstruct Centre Avenue’s major intersections with new pedestrian crossing amenities and transit shelters as well as plant trees along the corridor. Crews will also construct new sidewalks where there currently are none.
But Pollack stressed that the RAISE program is about more than curb ramps and new sidewalks. “It’s about people,” she said. “And what it will do to improve their lives every day.”
Another critical project will directly benefit the tenants of the Bedford Dwellings public housing complex. The city will use the grant to reconstruct the Chauncey Street city steps and install new sidewalks to lead pedestrians to the Centre Avenue business corridor.
Rev. Lee Walls, executive chair of the Christian Community Development Corporation, said the federal investment would help residents have better access to health care, employment and the cultural district. Speaking at the Thursday press conference, Lee characterized the investment as a critical part of rebuilding the Hill District.
“I am indeed honored, not only for those of us who now live in the Hill District but for our ancestors,” Lee said. “Now, we can continue on the road of developing our community and giving a higher quality of life to all those who live here.”
