By City of Phoenix
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego joined a host of community members and elected officials at the Rio Salado Audubon Center to announce that the City of Phoenix is the recipient of a $25M Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant. City staff submitted an application for the grant earlier this year.
Phoenix will use the discretionary federal funding to construct the long-proposed Rio Salado Bike and Pedestrian Bridge, that will cross the riverbed in alignment with 3rd Street and create connectivity between south Phoenix and the city’s downtown region.
When completed, the bridge will provide residents without a motor vehicle, or who prefer not to drive on every trip, with a safe option to cross the Rio Salado. The bridge also will offer a connection to the currently under construction South Central Light Rail Extension and provide residents with increased recreational and exercise options with its proximity to the trails within the Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Area.
In addition to the construction of the bridge, the project will include solar lighting upgrades along the existing Rio Salado pathway from Central Avenue to 40th Street.
Updates about the project and information regarding future community feedback opportunities will be available on the 3rd Street Rio Salado Projects webpage. NOTE: According to the project webpage, planning and pre-design are scheduled for Summer/Fall 2022.
Congress dedicated $2.2B in fiscal year 2022 RAISE grants to fund projects like this one that have a significant local or regional transportation impact. RAISE funding is a result of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) passed in 2021. (Source)
