The same day, the agency retracted $2 million dedicated to help rework Mattapan Square, according to another letter from the DOT shared with the Globe.
The cancellations, made with little fanfare, are the latest instances of the federal government walking back sizable commitments to transportation projects in the Commonwealth’s capital.
“The City won these competitive federal grants to replace sidewalks, improve lighting, upgrade bus stops, and plant trees on neighborhood streets,” a Boston city spokesperson wrote to the Globe Thursday. “The federal government’s decision to cancel these grants once again ignores the clear intent of Congress and we are reviewing our options.”
In recent months, the Department of Transportation, under Trump’s direction, has made outspoken efforts to gut policies and programs concerned with the environment and other priorities supposedly tainted by “woke” ways of thinking.
“The previous administration turned the Department of Transportation into the Department of Woke. I’ve focused the Department on what matters; safety, making travel great again, and building big, beautiful infrastructure projects,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement in May announcing the nixing of $54 million in university grants bankrolling studies on transportation and inequality.
Other localities across the country reported sudden grant cancellations this month, according to StreetsBlog, the transportation news site whose Massachusetts affiliate broke the news about the Roxbury corridors funding.
DOT informed Boston of the canceled grants in two letters sent to Boston city officials last week. The letter regarding the Roxbury project stated that the federal agency is now focused on “promoting traditional forms of energy and natural resources to the greatest extent possible” and ensuring the efficient use of taxpayer dollars, among other priorities.
The Roxbury plan’s ostensible “inclusion of EV [electric vehicle] charging infrastructure” meant that it “no longer aligns with DOT priorities,” and, as such, wouldn’t receive funding, according to the letter.
The letter addressing the Mattapan project noted the agency currently prioritizes “reducing roadway traffic congestion by preserving or increasing roadway capacity for motor vehicles.” The project’s intention to encourage other ways of getting around — walking, cycling, transit — “is hostile to motor vehicles and lacks national significance,” and thus ran afoul of the agency’s goals.
The Department of Transportation did not respond to a request for comment.
The Roxbury project, christened “Roxbury Resilient Corridors‚” promises to rebuild sections of Melnea Cass Boulevard, Malcolm X Boulevard, and Warren Street, with the stated aim of transforming the “wide, auto-centric thoroughfares” into pedestrian-friendly transit havens.
By the project’s completion — not yet scheduled — the city expects to install bus and bike lanes, new sidewalks and bus shelters, and other touch-ups, according to local and federal project descriptions. The city didn’t respond to questions about the project’s total costs and did not respond to questions regarding how the grant cancellation will impact the project’s future by press time.
The Biden administration chipped in $20 million for the Roxbury undertaking in Aug. 2022 through the “Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity” (RAISE) grant program, a transportation department initiative (since renamed) designed to help bankroll local transportation ventures.
“The inexplicable cancellation of this competitively awarded grant money, allocated by Congress, to projects that would improve the daily lives of commuters, enhance the climate resilience of communities at risk, and strengthen our communities, is evidence of this Administration’s inability or unwillingness to govern,” Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley said in a statement Wednesday.
State Senator Liz Miranda, representing the Second Suffolk District, struck a similar tone.
“This decision is nothing short of outrageous,” Miranda texted the Globe Thursday. “Once again, we are watching this administration turn its back on Black and Brown communities, this time by ripping away desperately needed infrastructure investments from Roxbury.”
The Mattapan project promises to “reconnect two long-separated sides of Mattapan, as well as improve access to natural resources, and multimodal transportation networks” in the hopes of advancing “the environmental, social, and economic well-being of Mattapan residents,” according to a federal project summary.
The federal government awarded Boston $2 million on Jan. 10 through DOT’s Reconnecting Communities Pilot (RCP) program to help move the project forward. A federal summary of the initiative pegged its total estimated cost at $16 million.
The city did not respond to questions regarding how the grant cancellation will impact the Mattapan project’s future by press time.