Buttigieg awards grant to tear down divisive Detroit highway

By HOPE YEN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A plan to dismantle a 1-mile-long depressed freeway that was built in Detroit by demolishing Black neighborhoods 60 years ago is a big winner of federal money. The $104.6 million for the Interstate 375 project is the first Biden administration grant being awarded to tear down a racially divisive roadway. The grant is among $1.5 billion in transportation grants being handed out Thursday to 26 projects nationwide thanks to increased funding from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law. Advocates say the money is a key first step that will inspire dozens of citizen-led efforts underway in other cities to dismantle highways.