Representative Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) reminded U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) secretary Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday that “Memphis is the center of the country,” and “what’s good for Memphis is good for America.”
These remarks were made during an oversight hearing for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Prior to these comments, Cohen applauded the implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and its investments towards Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) and Shelby County.
In June it was announced that two Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grants were being awarded by USDOT. MATA received $25 million for its Crosstown Corridor Safety and Multi-Modal Enhancement Program, and Shelby County received $13.2 million for its Eliminating Barriers on North Watkins (Project ELBOW.)
“These projects include many complete street elements to ensure safety and accessibility for all road users,” said Cohen. “This will transform the community and make it much safer to get around. One of the areas I’ve put a lot of emphasis on in getting the bill passed was complete streets.”
Cohen also reminded Buttigieg that Memphis has been ranked as one of the deadliest cities for traffic fatalities of pedestrians and bicyclists.
“The facts are, in minority communities it’s more likely that they’re not going to be sidewalks,” said Cohen. “It’s more likely they’re going to have median strips that help their crosswalks for people to get across at pedestrian passings. That’s one of the reasons we have so many high deaths of pedestrians and even bicyclists.
Cohen also mentioned that the city had recently been the recipient of the recent Safe Streets for All grant for $640,000 in order to remedy these things and to assist in the development of “comprehensive action plans to significantly reduce those fatalities.”
Not only did Cohen say that these problems need to be rectified, and that minority communities deserve to have foliage and safer streets, but he also asked if there was anything Buttigieg could do to “incentivize state governments.” Cohen added that state governments “put out a lot of these grants.”
“I don’t think we have Congressional authorization to ‘kick anyone in the rear,’ but we do work with state DOT’s knowing that we all share in principle, a commitment to safety, but believing that there are specific interventions that would make the biggest difference,” said Buttigieg.
Buttigieg added that they try to draw attention to the “eligibility of formula funds,” however the states may not be aware of the ways they could use these funds.