FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 13, 2025

Mayor Noble Announces Kingston Awarded $240,000 for Reconnecting Communities Initiative to Transform 9-W Arterial

KINGSTON, NY – Mayor Steven T. Noble is pleased to announce that the City of Kingston has been awarded a $240,000 planning and design grant from the Department of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities Pilot program to reconfigure US Route 9-W.

With the funding, the City of Kingston will conduct a feasibility study for reducing the 9-W highway from four to two lanes, removing a partial clover interchange, adding Complete Streets features, adding additional intersections, and more.

Mayor Noble said, “During the unfortunate Urban Renewal period, the large four-lane 9-W highway was built, bisecting our community. We believe the highway was overbuilt for the City’s traffic needs and creates an unnecessary barrier to connectivity, non-vehicular transportation, economic development, and social equity. We are interested in seeing what alternatives we might find to reducing the footprint of this route, and bringing now disparate parts of our community back together. I want to thank Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Pat Ryan for their support for Kingston receiving this funding from a very competitive grant process.” 

Bartek Starodaj, Director of Housing Initiatives, said “This is a transformative opportunity for the city to think how the redesign of the 9-W arterial could address the physical and social divides created by urban renewal and bring new housing and economic opportunities throughout the current 9-W corridor.”

The Reconnecting Communities program awards are designed to re-establish routes between communities in urban, rural, and tribal areas that were cut off by transportation infrastructure decades ago, leaving entire neighborhoods without easy access to opportunities, employment and key resources like schools, medical offices, and places of worship. 

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced $544 million in grant awards for 81 projects through the Reconnecting Communities Pilot discretionary grant program.

“The fundamental purpose of transportation is to connect people and communities to one another, but many past infrastructure choices divided communities instead--and so the Biden-Harris Administration is acting to change that,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “Today we’re announcing more than $500 million in funding, made possible through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, that will bridge divides and bring people closer to schools, jobs, housing, and each other.” 

The full list of awards can be viewed here.