FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 9, 2014
CONTACT: Kevin DelGobbo, Office of the Mayor, City of Waterbury
Phone: (203) 574-6712/ E-mail: kdelgobbo@waterburyct.org
CITY OF WATERBURY TO RECEIVE $14.4 MILLION TIGER GRANT
U.S. Department of Transportation Grant Will Transform City’s Freight Street and Naugatuck River Transportation Corridors
(WATERBURY, CT) – United States Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced that the City of Waterbury has been selected as a recipient of a $14.4 million TIGER VI (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) Grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).
The TIGER VI grant will fund the Waterbury Active Transportation and Economic Resurgence (WATER) Project, an integrated system of active transportation improvements that includes a downtown riverfront trail, a reconstructed and expanded network of local streets, and a comprehensive array of pedestrian/ bicycle improvements and linkages all designed to better connect downtown to the city’s train station and riverfront.
“I am ecstatic. This is an absolute game changer for the city of Waterbury,” said Mayor O’Leary. “It puts us firmly on track to implement a transformational vision for our future. On behalf of the citizens of this entire region I am so deeply grateful to Governor Malloy, Congresswomen Esty and DeLauro, and Senators Murphy and Blumenthal. They were absolutely incredible in their efforts to make this possible.”
The WATER Project is a multi-faceted mobility enhancement project that is part of a larger ongoing initiative to reform and revitalize the city’s landscape. The project will catalyze redevelopment of 60 acres of under-utilized downtown land around the city’s train station, revitalize historically blighted river corridor neighborhoods and reshape the downtown into a vibrant, livable pedestrian-friendly community. It complements the Downtown NEXT initiative, and together, all three initiatives represent the most comprehensive and far-reaching plan to stimulate the city’s economy and position Waterbury to capture a greater proportion of the region’s future economic growth.
According to the U.S. DOT, TIGER grants are a nationally competitive grant program where applications must demonstrate five long-term outcomes: safety, economic competitiveness, state of good repair, livability, and environmental sustainability.
Requests for 2014 TIGER grants totaled $9.5 billion, 15 times the $600 million set aside for the program, demonstrating the continued need for transportation investment nationwide.
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