Detroit Evening Report: City receives $20M grant to connect Joe Louis Greenway with Iron Belle Trail
Listen to the latest episode of the “Detroit Evening Report” podcast.
Leona Medley, executive director of the Joe Louis Greenway Partnership, discusses plans to connect the Joe Louis Greenway and Iron Belle Trail at an event on the Dequindre Cut, July 1, 2024.
Detroit’s Joe Louis Greenway project is getting a $20 million boost from a federal infrastructure grant.
The funds — part of the Biden Administration’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Grants — will be used to connect the greenway to the Iron Belle Trail in two parts of the city. Half of the money will be used to extend the Dequindre Cut north to Warren Avenue. The other half will go to develop a path in Southwest Detroit along Woodmere Street.
The two trails will overlap at Woodmere and Dequindre streets and feature signage, benches, trees and landscaping, according to the city.
“The Joe Louis Greenway is going to connect nearly two dozen Detroit neighborhoods to each other and the city’s beautiful international riverfront, not to mention the cities of Dearborn, Highland Park and Hamtramck when it is completed,” said Chief Operating Officer Brad Dick, in a statement. “We are incredibly grateful to the Biden Administration for recognizing the value of this transformational project and for making this critical investment into the Joe Louis Greenway and the thousands of people who will use it.”
The project is one of three in the state awarded grants from the RAISE program. Construction is expected to begin in late 2025.
Other headlines for Wednesday, July 3, 2024:
- The “African Diaspora Ancestral Commemoration Institute” is having its third annual “Not My Independence Day” event from noon to 4 p.m. Thursday at the Shrine of the Black Madonna church, 7625 Linwood St., Detroit.
- Local company JustAir is among 20 other startups selected by Google to receive strategic funding from Google For Startups Black+Latino Founders Fund.
- AAA is providing a free service called Tow to Go this Fourth of July to keep impaired drivers off the road.
- The United Way of Southeastern Michigan launches its 2024 Run United Virtual Marathon next month.
Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.
Trusted, accurate, up-to-date.
WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
