Medford Awarded $40K To Expand Outdoor Business Options

MEDFORD, MA — Medford received $40,000 in the latest round of funding under the state's Shared Streets and Spaces grant program.

For this round of awards, MassDOT received 94 applications, the largest applicant pool in a single round to date. Seventy-seven communities and the MBTA were awarded $6.5 million in funding, with 51 percent of the awards going to designated Environmental Justice communities.

Medford will use its funding to build upon a previous Shared Streets and Spaces grant by closing certain residential streets to through-traffic to expand outdoor dining and increase opportunities for safe outdoor recreation.

Including this round of grants, Shared Streets and Spaces has awarded $33 million to 183 municipalities and four transit agencies, for a total of 310 projects, since the program began in June 2020.

The program provides technical and funding assistance to help communities conceive, design, and implement changes to curbs, streets, plazas, and parking areas in support of public health, safe mobility, renewed commerce, and community betterment.

"Shared Streets grants kept local economies going and gave the public options for safe travel and activities during the pandemic, helping all of us reimagine how we can share streets and spaces to stay safe and improve the quality of life in our communities," Gov. Charlie Baker said in a statement.

This round of funding falls under Shared Winter Streets and Spaces program, which was launched in late 2020 for communities to accommodate the public during the cold weather months and provides grants between $5,000 and $500,000 for municipalities to quickly launch changes for safer walking, biking, public transit, recreation, commerce and civic activities. These changes can be intentionally temporary or permanent improvements.