By Trimmel Gomes, Florida News Connection
The GOP’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” included a lesser-reported provision to rescind hundreds of millions of dollars in already-awarded federal grants for trails and active transportation.
In Jacksonville, a $147 million award from the Neighborhood Access and Equity grant program was revoked.
Kay Ehas, CEO of the nonprofit Groundwork Jacksonville, the organization building the Emerald Trail, said the funds were slated for 15 miles of trail design, neighborhood revitalization plans and community engagement. She acknowledged the loss is a significant hit to their plans.
“It would have given us money to do seven neighborhood revitalization plans,” Ehas outlined. “And it gave us $3.5 million, which would have paid for project staff and community engagement expenses over six years.”
The national clawback affects grants where a formal agreement was not in place before President Donald Trump took office. Ehas pointed out that, while local gas tax money allows some construction to continue, the project’s timeline is now in jeopardy and the organization must raise funds to cover the lost federal support.
Ehas remains encouraged, however, and said the project will continue despite the setback, calling the Emerald Trail a critical economic development and infrastructure initiative for the community.
“We’re going to continue to move forward,” Ehas stressed. “The feds might not help us but for the community, they need to understand that we’re committed to getting the project done, and we’re going to continue to move forward and figure it out.”
Nationwide, the congressional action rescinded funding for dozens of projects intended to reconnect communities divided by past infrastructure projects, such as highways.
Florida News Connection is a bureau of the Public News Service. Banner photo: A trail winds through woods in a park near Jacksonville (iStock image). Editor’s note: The size of the grant was corrected from an earlier version of this story.
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