Federal Streetscape Grants

Preserve America Initiative

• The Department of Housing and Urban Development offers grants for streetscaping for communities seeking to revive historically significant neighborhoods and districts. The Preserve America Initiative, launched by first lady Laura Bush in 2003, seeks to preserve historical neighborhoods and develop heritage tourism by investing in the revitalization of urban areas.

  Using funds from its Community Development Block Grant program, the grants go to projects that benefit low- to moderate-income people, prevent and eliminate blight or serve an immediate community development need.

  Among projects covered are the development and improvement of public improvements, which includes streetscaping. Funds can be used for restoring or adding architectural aesthetics such as decorative pavement and railings, public art, water pools or other landscape features.

  Funds also can be used to remove architectural barriers that make movement of the disabled or elderly difficult.

TIGER Grants

• The Department of Transportation offers Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. TIGER grants are designed to invest in infrastructure, develop long-term goals of economic improvement and provide immediate stimulus and job creation.

  Under TIGER grants, streetscaping designed for sustainability and economic development is eligible. Among the awarded projects are two major programs that included streetscaping as part of the redevelopment.

  The Revere (Massachusetts) Transit Facility and Streetscape project received a $20 million grant to redevelop parking lots into a mixed used transportation hub for buses, rail and automobiles. That grant included a pedestrian oriented streetscape on Ocean Avenue to connect local neighborhoods into the main project.

  The US-93/2nd Street Improvements project gave $3.5 million to Whitefish, Montana, to improve its downtown, including a pedestrian-friendly streetscape.

Transportation Enhancement Grants

• The Federal Highway Administration, which falls under the Department of Transportation, offers streetscaping grants as part of it's Transportation Enhancement (TE) program.

  TE was developed in 1991 to take a non-traditional approach to transportation development. TE is designed to improve the transportation experience on the local level and to serve the goals of community preservation, protection of the environment, sustainability and livability.

  Eligible activities for streetscaping include building facilities for pedestrians and bicycles, acquiring scenic or historical easements, landscaping and scenic beautification.