Federal Grant Of $568K Awarded To Twinbrook Pedestrian, Bicycle Bridge

ROCKVILLE, MD — The federal government is providing more than $12 million in community grants to the state of Maryland, including for a project in Rockville, through the Reconnecting Communities Pilot and Neighborhood Access and Equity discretionary grant programs.

The funding is aimed at reconnecting communities that were cut off by transportation infrastructure decades ago, leaving entire neighborhoods without direct access to opportunity, like schools, jobs, medical offices, and places of worship.

“While the purpose of transportation is to connect, in too many communities past infrastructure decisions have served instead to divide. Now the Biden-Harris administration is acting to fix that,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.

In this round of funding for the Reconnecting Communities Pilot and Neighborhood Access and Equity program, Maryland received six grants.

In Rockville, $568,000 has been awarded for the Twinbrook Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge.

This project received funds to design a pedestrian and bicycle crossing over railroad tracks to reconnect the Twinbrook Community to employment areas and retail amenities along Rockville Pike. In 1984, the construction of the Twinbrook Metrorail Station further separated the community.

The project will identify a preferred alternative, prepare a cost-benefit analysis, enhance ongoing public engagement, develop a 30 percent engineering design, and create strategies to prevent displacement and advance community stewardship, according to the U.S. Transportation Department.