Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (B.U.I.L.D)

Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (B.U.I.L.D)

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge: Rebuilding Baltimore's Bridge: Connecting Communities through Investment

The BUILD (Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development) Transportation grants replaced the pre-existing Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program. They will be awarded on a competitive basis for projects that have a significant local or regional impact. The Secretary of Transportation will list the grant-winners on the USDOT website; awards will be issued by December 18, 2018. Transportation funds are to be obliged sufficiently in advance of the statutory September 30, 2020 deadline.

Baltimore City’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge was built in 1916 and its condition is rapidly deteriorating.  The Baltimore City Department of Transportation (BCDOT) requested $2.4 million in BUILD grant funding to advance the structural analysis and testing necessary to determine the condition of the superstructure and substructure of the bridge. During this phase the National Environmental Policy Act (N.E.P.A.) will be performed, along with the identification of funding opportunities for bridge rehabilitation or replacement; and a request will be made to the U. S. Coast Guard for the approval to permanently fix the movable span in the closed position.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard Re-Visioning Project: BUILDing Connections to Life’s Opportunities

The BUILD (Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development) Transportation grants replaced the pre-existing Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program. They will be awarded on a competitive basis for projects that have a significant local or regional impact. The Secretary of Transportation will list the grant-winners on the USDOT website; awards will be issued by December 18, 2018. Transportation funds are to be obliged sufficiently in advance of the statutory September 30, 2020 deadline.

The Baltimore City Department of Transportation (BCDOT) requested $5 million (71% of total project costs)  in BUILD grant funding to reconstruct Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Boulevard as a multi-modal transportation facility that will reunite West Baltimore to the rest of the City. BCDOT will contribute $2.04 million in local funds to construct this project.