Once in a generation — if we’re lucky — we see huge federal investment in infrastructure. Thanks to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Mega Grant program, communities across the country have been asked to identify their highest-priority projects in the first round of long-needed transportation investment funding to help make U.S. transit safer, more efficient and resilient to future challenges.
But not all projects hit that mark.
Here in the Bay Area, several major transformative projects have applied for Mega Grant funding and are worthy of this kind of investment. Contra Costa County’s 680 Forward project, for example, would improve mobility along Interstate 680, the backbone corridor for the region’s supply chain and commuters, linking airports, business centers and seaports.
Then, there’s Oakland: Mayor Libby Schaaf’s administration applied for a $182 million Mega Grant to help fund what it describes as a “waterfront mobility hub” at Howard Terminal in Jack London Square. In reality, though, the grant would help billionaire Oakland A’s owner John Fisher develop his $12 billion proposal for luxury condos and a stadium far more than it would the public.