The Minnesota Department of Transportation recently noted that 10 cities statewide are receiving grants via its Active Transportation Planning Assistance program to help them increase the number of residents walking and biking within their communities.
[Above photo by MnDOT]
Funded by the state legislature, MnDOT said that program offers an estimated $100,000 worth of technical assistance from a consultant, such as developing an action plan and demonstration project. The agency added that it does not issue those grants directly to recipients and that each community receiving a grant is responsible for covering the implementation costs – such as construction – of their respective active transportation projects.
“[The] Active Transportation Planning Assistance program brings together neighbors to dream big and develop a work plan for building their own network for walking and bicycling,” explained Will Wlizlo, MnDOT’s active transportation coordinator, in a statement. “This assistance helps cities reduce pollution, curb traffic, revitalize main streets, and increase residents’ health and safety.”
State departments of transportation across the country support local active transportation initiatives in their respective regions in a variety of ways.
For example, in August 2024, the Illinois Department of Transportation outlined in a blog post how it helped transform an old railroad line and bridge in the city of Dixon, IL, into a trail for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other active transportation users.
The last train using the old Illinois Central Railroad line that once ran through the heart of Dixon rolled through the town in 1985. In 2016, the municipality began planning the conversion of that rail line into a multi-use trail with a combination of state and local funds as well as $3.4 million in federal funds disbursed by the Illinois DOT.
And, in 2023, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation helped support – in concert with various federal, state, and local agencies – the new “Gotham Greens” off-road multi-use path along the Woonasquatucket River Greenway via stormwater mitigation efforts.
This path, located behind the Gotham Greens building in Olneyville, offers new access to the Woonasquatucket River and serves as a connector between the Greenway and the Washington Secondary Bike Path – helping “knit together” a “patchwork of pathways” in the City of Providence to promote active transportation use while protecting the local environment from stormwater flooding.
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