Rockford getting $16.5 million to make downtown more bike, pedestrian friendly
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ROCKFORD - A $16.5 million federal grant will help pay for a large part of what city officials are calling a transformational project that Rockford has sought for years.
Although it won't cover the entire scope of the vision, the money from the $1 billion Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant program will pay for about half of the estimated $32 million total cost.
It will pay for the multimodal reconstruction and modernization of Chestnut Street downtown with new pedestrian and bicycle amenities, the purchase of three electric buses, recharging infrastructure and the creation of a Rockford Mass Transit District downtown bus circulator route.
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Funding was announced in a joint news release by U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, both of Illinois.
“Improving and modernizing downtown Rockford with this federal funding will help residents and businesses owners throughout the area while supporting good-paying local jobs,” Duckworth said in a news release.
The senators pledged to work together in hopes of brining more federal transportation dollars to the region.
“This federal funding will be a tremendous boost to Rockford by better connecting families to work, school, and recreational opportunities downtown," Durbin said in the release. "I’m especially pleased this funding will support clean and reliable transportation infrastructure, including electric buses.”
Competition was stiff for the merit-based discretionary funding previously known as BUILD grants. The program is aimed at projects in urban areas that can improve safety, encourage partnerships, sustain the environment and promote economic development. A total of 680 projects were funded out of more than 9,700 applications, according to information from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Rockford City Administrator Todd Cagnoni said local and state funding will cover nearly $6 million of the remaining cost of the more than 2-mile, estimated $22.5 million Chestnut Street project that stretches from West State Street across the Rock River where it becomes Walnut Street to 7th Street. It will reduce the number of traffic lanes, create protected bicycle and pedestrian amenities and add lighting.
After twice striking out on its quest for a $25 million federal grant — the maximum for the project — Cagnoni said Rockford adopted a new strategy. Instead of acting as the primary applicant, the city partnered with the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Region 1 Planning Council to apply for it.
The RAISE grant will cover a portion of the originally envisioned $32 million project’s scope.
It had in addition to the reconstruction of Chestnut Street also called for the reconstruction of Jefferson Street. The roads are considered a downtown “one-way pair,” with Chestnut conducting traffic to the East and Jefferson taking traffic west.
But Cagnoni said even though the funded project is smaller in scale, it will be transformational. And with a $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill signed by President Joe Biden this week, there is a chance that funding can soon be found for the Jefferson Street portion.
“It will be a huge improvement to what currently exists, though its unfortunate we couldn’t get both legs,” Cagnoni said. “But it will be a modern, complete street one-way within our community which will be multimodal, aesthetically pleasing as well as safe.”
Jeff Kolkey: jkolkey@rrstar.com; @jeffkolkey
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford gets $16.5M to make downtown more bike, pedestrian friendly
