3. Reconnecting neighborhoods

Atlanta neighborhoods like Sweet Auburn and others across Georgia that were split apart decades ago during the construction of the country’s interstate highway system could try to repair the damage under a program in the infrastructure package.

History lesson: When transportation officials in Georgia and elsewhere in the country started laying out the interstate system in the 1940s and 50s, they charted parts of the route through predominantly Black neighborhoods.

• The subsequent construction hamstrung businesses and created a massive barrier, permanently altering the look, feel and energy of the communities.
• The highways, combined with so-called “urban renewal” programs, broke up communities of color and separated Black and white residents.

The bottom line: The Reconnecting Communities Act makes available $1 billion to cities across the U.S. to fund “planning, design, demolition, and reconstruction of street grids, parks, or other infrastructure.” Projects to reconnect communities are also eligible for other federal funding.