The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that Tuscaloosa has received a $15 million grant to fund improvements to the Riverwalk area of the city.
The money will help pay for “Black Warrior River barge mooring improvements; a bicycle and pedestrian path; and a pedestrian bridge” over Jack Warner Parkway, according to the DOT.
The total estimated cost of the project is $20 million. The federal government’s investment will cover 75% of the cost.
U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) said in a release that he believes the grant “will provide important federal resources that will improve infrastructure and promote increased economic development opportunities in Alabama.”
He also thanked Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao for her work on the matter.
Shelby’s Senate office advises that the “mooring improvements will allow the abandoned lock structure to be used for the construction of the shared-use path,” while “the bicycle and pedestrian path will run from the new pedestrian bridge to the existing riverfront park to the east, with lighting and security elements.”
The grant is from the Department of Transportation’s BUILD program, short for Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development Transportation Discretionary Grants Program.
Shelby had a role in shaping the BUILD program in his role as the powerful chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
The Tuscaloosa grant, along with a smaller $450,000 grant to fund a transportation study in the Wiregrass region of the state, are part of a $1 billion nationwide investment by the federal DOT.
The Wiregrass study will examine the feasibility of widening two highways, including making State Road 167 between Enterprise and the Florida border a four-lane divided highway.
More details on the Tuscaloosa project and the Wiregrass study can be found here.
“Thank you Secretary Elaine Chao & U.S. DOT for including Alabama projects on this list to receive two major BUILD grants to improve infrastructure in Tuscaloosa, Coffee, Geneva & Dale counties!” Alabama Governor Kay Ivey wrote Thursday on her Twitter account.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95
