Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods
The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded the City of Memphis and Shelby County Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) a $2,693,160 Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods (RCN) grant. The grant will help mitigate the barrier and impacts of Interstate 40 for seven historically African American and disinvested neighborhoods in North Memphis.
Because of the egregious conditions of the intersections and their significant neighborhood impacts, community-driven planning has been conducted over the last 5-10 years, and this planning grant builds on that foundation, with a focus on working out the design details and preparing as much as possible for implementation. Important elements for consideration will include improving pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, reimagining perilous pedestrian bridges, and exploring measures to turn adjacent vacant lots into a network of environmentally beneficial green spaces with trails.
Help Reconnect Your Neighborhood!
Join us at an upcoming community event as part of the Reconnecting Communities planning project, Over and Under I-40.
Friday, November 13
9a.m.-Noon
The project explores ways to make streets, crossings, and public spaces safer and more accessible for people walking, biking, driving, and using transit, particularly in areas impacted by the interstate. Of the 12 crossing points along I-40, we will focus on northern locations in New Chicago and Klondike Smokey City.
These early concepts are intended to inspire discussion and gather community input as the project moves toward future community design meetings.
Your perspective matters. Join us and help shape what comes next!
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Other Project Documents
Awarded Application
In the 1980s, the City of Memphis pursued a policy of physical expansion by expanding its Urban Services Boundary. The annexation had a direct impact on the urban core as resources and investments turned their figurative back on the oldest and poorest parts of the city, many of which are in North Memphis…