Largely overlooked in President Biden’s economic recovery and infrastructure plan is a sweeping effort to reconnect communities divided by urban highways. The $20 billion in aid Biden proposed in his American Jobs Plan would be a historic effort to correct the racism in how we built our highway system and lay the groundwork for reinvigorating neighborhoods — such as Anacostia in Southeast Washington — that have suffered for decades because of those decisions.

The upheavals of the past year – the pandemic, recession, protests over racial injustice and a violent insurrection at the Capitol — have laid bare the great fissures in American society. Today we are a nation deeply divided by income, race, and class. Amid calls for healing and justice, President Biden promises to “build back better,” with development that promotes racial and economic equity.

Greenways offer a breath of fresh air, but when planning and building them, leaders must realize their full potential for social and economic impact.

I’ve heard the same refrain from both friends and strangers, over and over, ever since the pandemic hit: “COVID has upended life as I know it. But I’ve found peace along the Detroit Riverfront.”

11th Street Bridge Park has received the green light from the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) to move forward. The project also received positive feedback from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, and will present the project to the full Commission this coming fall.

Check out a few new looks for DC’s planned 11th Street Bridge Park.

The development of new parks and green space can often lead to displacement and gentrification. 11th Street Bridge Park is making a conscious effort to keep lifelong residents of Southeast Washington in place through community land trusts. The community land trusts was implemented as part of the development plan to maintain affordable homes in the surrounding area of the park.

The 11^th Street Bridge Park in Washington, D.C.—a planned repurposing of the retired 11^th Street Bridge across the Anacostia River between the East of the River neighborhoods and Capitol Hill into a vibrant city park—will connect communities and create new shared experiences across and along the Anacostia River. This innovative public-private partnership in the nation’s capital is re-connecting neighborhoods to the river’s banks and to each other.

A new report published by the Urban Institute is tracking 11th Street Bridge Park’s progress on its Equitable Development Plan, which outlines strategies for affordable housing, workforce development, and cultural equity. The report addresses what it takes to achieve equity in the context of larger challenges that face any entity seeking to produce meaningful gains for historically marginalized groups.

The High Line is an urban park that might have never been built and is now estimated to be responsible for $2B in impact. The Atlanta BeltLine, Buffalo Bayou in Houston, The 606 in Chicago, The Underline in Miami, Philadelphia’s Rail Park, and the 11th Street Bridge Park in Washington, D.C. are among the emerging projects looking to unlock the potential of reimagined infrastructure and the benefits it can bring to their cities.