Nearly $10 Million Grant For East Los Angeles Pedestrian Crossing Announced – MyNewsLA.com

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A nearly $10 million federal grant will help build a pedestrian and bicycle crossing over the Long Beach (710) Freeway, officials announced Friday.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joined Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis and other local officials at Humphreys Avenue Elementary School to celebrate the funding, which they say will “reconnect this section of East Los Angeles that was divided by the construction of I-710.”

The funding comes from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021, which provides $110 billion in funding for roads, bridges and other major projects over five years.

“The 710 was an investment in supply chains and vehicle travel like so many of the freeway and highways of that era,” Buttigieg said during a news conference Friday morning. The freeway was built from 1953 to 1965.

“Low-income communities were split in half and cut out of the benefits because they lacked the political power to reshape or resist those plans.”

Buttigieg added that the project will make it easier for people to go about their days by creating an accessible overpass for pedestrians and bicyclists to get from one side of the neighborhood to another.

“It’ll make it safer for kids to get to school in the morning. That’s something, again, that touches me in a whole new way ever since becoming a parent,” Buttigieg said.

Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins explained that for her, the project was about modal equity.

“About 19% of East L.A. is covered by freeways. Compare that just to 4% for the city of Los Angeles,” Wiggins said. “That means East L.A. pedestrians and cyclists must contend with crossing busy bridges, on- and off-ramps, when they walk or bike to school, church, the grocery store or local businesses.”