$20 million coming to the City of Toledo for infrastructure improvements

The neighborhoods surrounding downtown Toledo will soon see major investment for the first time in decades.

TOLEDO, Ohio — It’s all a part of a project aiming to improve infrastructure, while also making improvements for the sake of safety.

The City of Toledo will receive a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant program. The grant will go toward supporting the city’s $52.9 million Connecting Toledo Neighborhoods to Opportunity initiative, one that aims to improve neighborhood safety and quality of life, while also making infrastructure improvements.

The key focus of the project is capitalizing on the momentum happening in downtown, by way of improvements in Toledo’s uptown, Junction, and Englewood neighborhoods. In the grand scheme of things, according to the city, 38 city blocks will benefit from the installation of new water and sanitary utilities, road reconstruction and resurfacing, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and streetscapes. One other highlight of the project includes plans for the creation of a new TARTA Mobility Hub. And to accompany that, construction of a 0.75-mile multi-use path on Dorr St. in the Junction neighborhood.

This is all significant because, as I reported in a recent investigation, the construction of I-75 through Toledo left many neighborhoods disconnected, something that was followed by years that lacked investment in our core neighborhoods.

Now, the work begins to reverse that trend.