Four Michigan transportation projects to receive $52 million in federal funding

Michigan will receive more than $52 million in funding for four infrastructure projects, the Department of Transportation announced Thursday. 

It's part of more than $2.2 billion made available for 166 transportation projects across the country. The funds were appropriated through the bipartisan infrastructure law passed last year. 

"We hear from residents who live with transportation infrastructure challenges every day, and communities have great ideas about how to address them," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters.

"We recognize that the solutions don't all have to come out of Washington, but more of the funding should."

The Michigan projects chosen include:

• $25 million for the Michigan Department of Transportation to update a 1.9-mile stretch of Michigan Avenue between downtown and Corktown in Detroit into a multimodal road with dedicated transit and autonomous vehicle lanes. 
• $19.7 million for the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians to improve roads through the Ozhitoon Mino-Bimaadiziwin Project, which would prevent tribal members from having to finance annual maintenance. 
• $5.9 million for the City of Kalamazoo to redesign roadways downtown to make them more walkable and to eliminate a barrier that has "perpetuated old 'redline district' boundaries."
• $1.3 million for the Cadillac/Wexford Transit Authority to develop a plan for train service connecting southeast Michigan to northern and western Michigan. 

The program, dubbed Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity, was created in 2009 through legislation aiming to create jobs following the Great Recession. 

This year's appropriations include a record number of projects on tribal lands, said White House senior advisor Mitch Landrieu. Half are in urban areas and half are in rural areas. Almost half will go to historically disadvantaged communities. 

Buttigieg said it is an "oversubscribed" program that had at least five applications for every one that could be funded. 

rbeggin@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @rbeggin