The first step toward redeveloping West Baltimore’s “Highway to Nowhere” will begin with $85.5 million in federal funding aimed at improving mobility and accessibility in neighborhoods that were split by the original project five decades ago, officials said Tuesday.
After a $2 million grant kick-started the planning process almost two years ago, the latest funds will help build a cap over one of the blocks of the 1.4-mile stretch of highway, tear down existing ramps and add safety improvements, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s office said.
The road — partially built and then halted in the early 1970s over local opposition — has been a top priority for city, state and local officials for years. More than 1,500 people were displaced as nearly 1,000 homes and over 60 businesses were demolished during the highway’s construction through predominantly Black neighborhoods.
Removing or redeveloping the highway will both boost economic growth in West Baltimore and right a historic wrong, officials have said.
“We are keeping our promise to the city of Baltimore and the neighborhoods that were virtually split in half 50 years ago by the displacement of residents and the disruption of small businesses because of the construction of the terrible ‘Highway to Nowhere,’” U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume said in a statement Tuesday.
The redevelopment plans create “new hope for reconnecting the Harlem Park, Poppleton and Rosemont communities,” Mfume said.
The funding will come from a portion of the 2021 infrastructure law sponsored by President Joe Biden called the Reconnecting Communities Program. It was modeled off legislation drafted by Van Hollen and Mfume that intended to remove or remake highway infrastructure that disconnected communities.
In a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg seeking the money in September, the lawmakers said the program was developed specifically with the Highway to Nowhere in mind. The structure “remains a physical and symbolic barrier to progress in these long-disinvested areas,” the letter read.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott — who stood with the federal lawmakers in a parking lot overlooking the Highway to Nowhere when the legislation was first introduced three years ago — called the announcement a “historic level of funding.”
After the previous grant allowed city officials to get public input from residents, the new funds will “build on that momentum and produce real change for our most impacted residents,” he said.
According to the application that city and state officials submitted for the funding, the total cost of the first phase of the project is estimated to reach $200 million, including the use of other federal and city funds.
The initial phase will include the removal of entrance and exit ramps over Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in order to connect West Baltimore with the Central Business District and support future light rail service.
Another “critical reconnection point between Franklin Street and Mulberry Street across Route 40 will come from the construction of a block cap with the goal of improving walkability, access to transit and creating “a vibrant community gathering space that celebrates the history of this area,” according to the application.
The application discusses a multi-step process with construction beginning in 2027 and finishing in 2029.
City Council President Zeke Cohen said he was thankful for the effort to “make sure that transportation in our city makes sense.”
“The Highway to Nowhere was a blight that has continued to cause harm and heartache across our city, and so, to have the full funding to make sure that we not only have all the monies we need for the Key Bridge rebuild, but also to address the Highway to Nowhere, is absolutely huge,” he said.
Brooke Conrad contributed to this report. Have a news tip? Contact Sam Janesch at sjanesch@baltsun.com, 443-790-1734 and on X as @samjanesch.