San Diego and National City have been selected to receive a state grant meant to help reconnect communities that were divided by freeways, state transportation officials announced Tuesday.
The grant comes from the "Reconnecting Communities: Highways to Boulevards" pilot program, which was established by Caltrans to "convert underused highways that divide underserved communities into multimodal corridors and vibrant public spaces."
"Ultimately, the program will help restore a sense of connectivity," said Caltrans Director Tony Tavares at a press conference Tuesday morning. "Connectivity that was lost during a time when transportation leaders in the past weren't effectively engaging and communicating and collaborating with community members and local officials."
Tavares said the money could be used for affordable housing, parks and sustainable transportation infrastructure. Caltrans has not said exactly how much the grant will be worth, but said it will work with local officials and three community-based nonprofits — Mundo Gardens, Groundwork San Diego-Chollas Creek and the Urban Collaborative Project — to develop a spending plan.
The money will go to planning and infrastructure projects in three focus areas: Chollas View, bounded by State Route 94 and Interstate 805, part of the Chollas Creek watershed and a portion of Southeast San Diego and National City around Palm Avenue. The grant application was submitted by SANDAG, the county's transportation planning agency.
Caltrans also selected Arcata in Northern California, and South San Francisco for "Reconnecting Communities" grants. The state program is intended to help California compete for grants from a similar federal program established by the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
Janice Luna Reynoso, executive director of Mundo Gardens, said her community "needs a win right now" after devastating floods in January left many in the area homeless. She said the floods were a result of the government's failure to invest in neighborhood infrastructure, which she hopes the grant funds will help correct.
"I look at my granddaughter, that hopefully she'll benefit and it'll be a legacy of healing, of economic justice, of vitality — a legacy of what we're going to do to leave this place better than we found it," Luna Reynoso said. "It's going to take all of you here to water those seeds that were planted."
Tuesday's announcement took place under the 43rd Street on-ramps to I-805 in National City, which was originally intended to be the start of Highway 252. Plans for that freeway were abandoned in 1986 after a decade-long opposition campaign from community activists.
San Diego's community plan for Southeast San Diego calls for the on-ramps to be removed and the land to be repurposed for housing, commercial space and local streets.
In a separate announcement Tuesday, SANDAG said it had received $3.3 million in federal grant funding and congressional earmarks to help study the construction of a freeway lid over Interstate 5 in Barrio Logan. I-5 displaced hundreds of residents and businesses and helped make Barrio Logan one of the most polluted communities in the country.
