A project in downtown Pittsburgh to reconnect a neighborhood cut off by an interstate built in the 1950s is the Grand Prize winner for the 2022 America’s Transportation Awards.
The $30 million I-579 Urban Open Space Cap project by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation took the top honor for the national competition. A project to increase and make safer bike and pedestrian travel by the Washington State Department of Transportation won the People’s Choice award for receiving the most online votes.
Both DOTs will get $10,000 in cash to be donated to a charity or a transportation-related scholarship program of their choice. The awards are sponsored annually by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, AAA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The predominantly African-American Lower Hill District was cut off from downtown Pittsburgh by the construction of Interstate 579 and a convention center in the 1950s. Several homes and buildings were destroyed for the construction, and retaining walls separated the neighborhood.
PennDOT set to remedy that with its I-579 Urban Open Space Cap project. The project improved pedestrian and bike access and created a new park to bridge the interstate.
“That new park includes story walls designed by local artists, an outdoor classroom and performance and green spaces, all of which reconnects a community and spurs redevelopment and economic growth in the area,” says the award announcement.
