Office of the Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy News Archive
MAY 13, 2024
Key Excerpt: "...as part of Infrastructure Week and during Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the U.S. Department of Transportation released the second installment of its “Investing in America” video series, focused on the Chinatown Stitch project in Philadelphia. The Chinatown Stitch project received $159 million from the Biden-Harris Administration to cap the Vine Street Expressway with greenspace and implement other improvements — addressing historic inequities, reconnecting the Chinatown community, and improving quality of life.
This video features interviews from leaders in the neighborhood including Cecilia Moy Yep, known as the godmother of Chinatown. The video tells the history of the Chinatown Stitch project going back to the mid-1960s. The video is available in closed captioning for English, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese."
APRIL 30, 2024
Key Excerpt: "A road can either divide a neighborhood, while blasting vehicle traffic through the heart of a city without regard to those who live and work there. Or that same road with a better design could tie that neighborhood together. A road can either serve to evacuate or to invigorate a neighborhood. And I know that this area will be invigorated, that people will be better able to take a walk, to shop at a local business, to get their haircut, to walk to church, to eat at Green Acres - something I am sincerely looking forward to doing a little bit later on. And to run into people and have those chance encounters that make cities cities." -U.S. Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg
Key Excerpt: The Biden-Harris Administration is also expanding the use of categorical exclusions, the fastest form of environmental review, bringing review timelines down from months or years to a matter of weeks for projects that have minimal environmental impacts. For example, over 99.5% of federal highway projects were covered by categorical exclusions in fiscal year 2022, meaning the vast majority of projects are moving forward using these faster reviews. The Administration has also expanded the use of categorical exclusions to expedite permitting in key sectors such as EV charging, broadband, CHIPS manufacturing, and clean energy projects.