The City of Richmond will extend its 2022 feasibility study of the Reconnect Jackson Ward project after council voted Monday to accept a $1.35 million federal grant to support the work.
In 2023, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, established by President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, awarded Richmond the funds. DOT doled out $185 million for projects in 45 cities, including Richmond and Norfolk, after receiving more than 400 applications.
The program aims to repair harm done to communities by the construction of freeways under President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, which created the national interstate system.
Construction of Interstate 95 cleaved Jackson Ward in two. At the time, it was among the nation’s most prominent Black neighborhoods and nicknamed the “Harlem of the South.” The effects of construction, which displaced Black residents, destroyed homes and businesses, are still felt today.
VPM News previously reported that the northern portion of the neighborhood has double the unemployment rate and lower household incomes compared to the neighborhood south of the interstate.
Kevin Vonck, Richmond's planning development and review director, said the city has been working on a request for proposals for a project consultant, which will be funded by the grant. The company awarded the project will offer engineering recommendations, as well as a cost analysis.
One of the 2022 study’s recommendations is to reconnect both portions of Jackson Ward with a new bridge or “freeway lid” that would incorporate a transit depot, as well as green space and land for potential future development.
“If the city decides to build a bridge, it’s going to be tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars,” Vonck said. “Further analysis is needed before we make that decision about moving forward with the type of connection, in order to really understand what the costs are. And then, secondly, what the impacts may be — both positive and potentially negative.”
Vonck said the project could potentially undo some of the damage done to the community.
“There's a lot of information that's out there about how detrimental and degrading the expansion of the interstate system through the city of Richmond was for us and our urban fabric — for a lot of communities,” Vonck said.
But Vonck said a wider conversation is needed about what the project would mean for growth and development in the Jackson Ward communities — even if it makes sense from a city planning perspective.
“You had a very vibrant community [that] the interstate split it in two. And in the decades past, you've had the re-establishment of community again,” Vonck said. “I think the last thing we'd want to do is again fund an infrastructure project that would also cause upheaval.”
Reparations for the displaced families and their descendants is also a part of that pending wider conversation.
Vonck said the grant is mainly focused on land use and engineering, but that reparations are “something that can be discussed as we move forward.”
Councilor Ann-Frances Lambert, who represents the city’s Third District, said she’d like the city to find a way to repay descendants who were victims of the highway going through Apostle Town — the portion of the neighborhood north of the freeway.
“At the end of the day, we displaced one of the most robust African American communities and nothing has been put back to replace that,” Lambert said. “So, it's important that we definitely reflect on our past, but also look forward to our future to [make] sure those resources are [put] back into the community.”
Lambert said it's time to grow the southernmost tip of her district into a vibrant neighborhood.
The city aims to hire a consultant by early next year and complete the feasibility analysis by the end of 2025, Vonck said.
Ultimately, council would need to vote on whether to move ahead with the Reconnect Jackson Ward project. Every council seat is up for grabs in November’s election.
