Earlier this month the city of Detroit submitted a $10.4 million federal TIGER grant request to build the first phase of the Inner Circle Greenway. This phase is basically the entire west side of the trail, including new bridges over the Jeffries expressway.
The initial plan was to submit a $25 million TIGER request to build the entire trail at once. However, there was a concern that only a portion of that money would be awarded with the city responsible for the difference. Given the recent financial issues, many weren’t comfortable with that risk.
As you may recall, the Link Detroit project (which includes the Dequindre Cut extension) asked for $15 million in TIGER funding but received $10 million.
The city should know by the end of the year whether the request is funded. It is highly competitive so there are no guarantees, but we’re optimistic.
Also underway right now is additional design work for the trail.
We have updated our Inner Circle Greenway page with the most recent information. We’ve also included a link to the entire TIGER request.