Sherrod Brown to discuss proposal for Youngstown corridor project
YOUNGSTOWN
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown is joining Mahoning Valley officials today to highlight a proposed $15.5 million Youngstown SMAR2T Corridor project as part of an overall Senate Democratic plan to rebuild and repair the nation’s infrastructure.
Brown, a Cleveland Democrat, helped draft the proposal, called “A Blueprint to Rebuild America’s Infrastructure,” to start the conversation on how the $1 trillion President Donald Trump, a Republican, has said his administration will invest in American infrastructure.
The proposal outlines how a $1 trillion package of infrastructure investment delivered over the next decade would improve the nation’s transportation, water, housing, broadband and community infrastructure while creating thousands of construction and manufacturing jobs in Ohio.
The U.S. Department of Transportation rejected Youngstown’s SMAR2T grant proposal last year under the federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program.
The proposal included investments in public transportation, bike lanes and pedestrian improvements to link downtown, Youngstown State University, Eastern Gateway Community College and St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.
The proposal will be resubmitted in some form once the DOT seeks requests for funding, Mayor John A. McNally said.
The proposal Brown will discuss today would include $10 billion in funding for the TIGER grant program as well as funding to repair roads and bridges, modernize water and sewer systems and improve public transportation.
Joining Brown will be McNally; Don Koenig, executive vice president and regional chief operating officer at Mercy Health Youngstown; Mike Hripko, vice president of research at Youngstown State University; and Jim Kinnick, executive director of the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments.