PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The plan to reconnect Philadelphia’s Chinatown with a cap over the Vine Street Expressway has lost almost all of its federal funding. Congressman Brendan Boyle said he has a plan to save the project.
The Chinatown Stitch received $160 million in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, only to lose it this year when the Trump administration eliminated the Reconnecting Communities Program. It was just one of the billions in programs the administration and Congressional Republicans worked together to zero out, but to Boyle, it felt almost personal.
“I worked damn hard to get that $160 million grant, and I’m still upset that this president took this money from Philadelphia and took this money from those who live in and around this community.”
Boyle, though, said he has a plan to restore the money.
“I’m announcing that I am serving as one of the lead co-sponsors of the REPAIR Act, for Restoring Essential Public Access and Improving Resilient Infrastructure Program,” he said Monday.
Introduced this week in both the House and Senate, Boyle said he’s hopeful he can get the bipartisan support needed to pass it. In the meantime, planning work for the stitch continues with $12 million in funding already in the pipeline.
“I feel confident we have a very good plan B, and we’re going to keep working at it until we’re here celebrating this project getting done,” Boyle said. “We’re not quitting. If there’s anything anyone knows about this city nationwide, it’s that Philly doesn’t quit.”