Biden Funding Revitalizes Efforts to Reconnect Communities Divided by Highways

The Biden administration is funding projects to reconnect communities divided by transportation infrastructure.
The construction of U.S. 71 in Kansas City, Mo., displaced thousands of residents and cut off predominantly Black neighborhoods from grocery stores, health care and jobs.
The city has received $5 million in funding from the Biden administration to help develop plans for potential changes, such as building overpasses that could improve pedestrian safety and better connect people to mass transit.
The Transportation Department has awarded funding to dozens of projects under the goal of reconnecting communities, including $185 million in grants as part of a pilot program created by the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law.
The project in Kansas City shows just how difficult and expensive it can be to reverse long-ago decisions to build highways that slashed through communities of color and split up neighborhoods.