Officials in downstate McLean County had been waiting about a year to obtain a federal grant that would have led to finishing the last nine miles of a county-long pedestrian and bike trail along the original Route 66 path.
But two weeks ago, the county learned it wouldn’t receive the $675,000 grant because the project didn’t plan to address vehicular traffic even though the grant had been approved in June 2024.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has recently been canceling similar grants for traffic safety projects across the country, including one for $1.2 million in San Diego that a U.S. DOT official described as “hostile to motor vehicles.” In a cancellation in Boston, an official wrote the grant would “impede vehicle capacity and speed,” according to news first reported by Bloomberg.
In its Sept. 9 letter to McLean County Assistant Administrator Cathy Dreyer, a U.S. DOT official said the county’s project “no longer aligns with DOT priorities,” which, according to the letter, include focusing on projects that “promote vehicular travel.”
The grant would have funded preliminary engineering and an environmental review for the county’s plan to finish the roughly 47-mile Historic Route 66 Bike/Pedestrian Trail in a partially rural county that’s surrounded by highways and railroads, according to planning documents.
Some McLean County roadways have been graded as “moderately low, very low or extremely low due to high traffic volume/speed roadways,” planning documents state. County officials also argued the project would have a positive impact on the local economies.
“The completion of this trail segment will assist rural communities along the corridor in achieving their goals of economic self-determination. Numerous studies from around the country suggests the economic impact of this project, which would be a portion of a regional, state and quite possibly national trail, are likely to be significant,” the documents state.
In the Chicago area and across Illinois, officials have not received notice of any other lost federal grants, according to spokespersons for the Chicago, Cook County and Illinois departments of transportation.
But each of those departments are working on projects that prioritize cyclist and pedestrian safety, as many municipalities, including Chicago, have adopted the “Vision Zero” goal to eliminate annual traffic fatalities.
A decade ago, Chicago set out to eliminate traffic deaths by 2026, but last year it saw 109 deaths on the road.
Kyle Lucas, executive director of the traffic safety advocacy group Better Streets Chicago, said the federal government pulling out of funding for projects that emphasize pedestrian safety is “flat out absurd.”
“We have fought very hard for many years to get to a point in this city and in this country where we are investing in giving people the choice of how they want to get around,” Lucas said.
A shift toward building more pedestrian and bike-friendly pathways and taking focus off roads for only motor vehicles could also help to reduce the country’s carbon emissions, advocates say.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has worked to undo many of former President Joe Biden’s climate policies. Trump’s transportation agenda — “America is Building Again” — has targeted more roads and bridges, with many grant announcements lacking money for pedestrian and bike ways.
A spokesperson for the U.S. DOT did not respond to a request for comment.
Dreyer said McLean County officials applied a couple months ago for a state grant “in anticipation” of potentially losing the federal grant because “things were not moving very fast” in obtaining the U.S. DOT grant.
The county plans to apply for a separate U.S. DOT grant that will open later this year, she said, in hopes of kickstarting the final construction phase of its pedestrian and bike trail.
Lucas, with Better Streets Chicago, said the country and local municipalities should be investing more in walkable infrastructure, public transit and safe cycling.
“These are investments that we desperately need and it’s about giving people choice, giving people true freedom,” Lucas said. “Freedom isn’t being forced to get around by a car. Freedom is being able to choose the mode that’s best for you, and right now, most Americans don’t have that choice.”