U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg came to Birmingham on Wednesday to celebrate a $14.5 million federal grant that will restore two-way traffic to Fourth Avenue North in the city’s historic Black business district.
“We’re here because everybody recognizes all the ways in which infrastructure shapes our lives, and we feel it when something goes wrong,” he said.
“Sometimes we don’t pay attention to it when everything goes right, but a lot of work goes into making sure that it goes right. And that’s what today is about.”
The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program, which is designed in part to help reconnect underserved communities that were adversely affected by past transportation projects.
Buttigieg was joined by Alabama Congresswoman Terri Sewell, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, community leaders, and Fourth Avenue business owners for an event outside the historic Carver Theatre, home to the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and near the Birmingham Civil Rights District.
The transportation secretary said his visit was “about better infrastructure for the future” and “about putting right things that have been done wrong in the past.”
“Part of what brings me to Birmingham today is recognizing the consequences of infrastructure decisions that were made generations ago and our regard for a community’s vision,” Buttigieg said.
The grant will restore two-way traffic along 15 blocks of Fourth Avenue and add additional features designed to revitalize the commercial district and help reconnect the important corridor to the broader neighborhood.
“People are going to find it easier and more comfortable and safer to move on this quarter, whether walking, biking, riding the bus, or driving,” Buttigieg said.
Sewell said many past infrastructure projects created barriers between people and adversely impacted neighborhoods, especially in African American communities. She said what happened to the Fourth Avenue business district – the city’s “Black Main Street” – is a prime example.
“We know that the historic Fourth Avenue business district has a very rich legacy of African American ingenuity and entrepreneurship. We also know that we’ve seen the crippling effects of infrastructure policy that has sought to divide us,” she said.
“Our people deserve better,” Sewell added, saying the project will “… help us right these wrongs and level the playing field for Fourth Avenue business district.”
Woodfin said that to create a thriving downtown and thriving neighborhoods, “we need streets where a mother can safely push a stroller across a crosswalk.”
“Our vision is to create a truly multimodal, model city, a city where people can walk, ride public transportation or ride a bike to get to their destination.”
He said some of the changes won’t happen overnight, with many in the community still “trapped in a culture of car dependency.”
“It will take us some time to undo this infrastructure and redesign our streets and systems,” Woodfin said, calling the Fourth Avenue project a “major step” in creating safer streets.
A version of this story originally appeared in The Birmingham Times.
