The city of Akron is one step closer to establishing new uses for the decommissioned, 1-mile section of the 4-mile Akron Innerbelt.
Akron City Council unanimously voted 13-0 this week to authorize the city to apply for a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, called the Reconnecting Communities Pilot (RCP) Program Capital Construction Grant.
If the city receives the funding, it would go toward reutilizing the area on and around the unused roadway, with the aim of recognizing the needs of the majority-Black communities and individuals and their descendents who were harmed by the Innerbelt’s construction, said Esther Thomas, Akron’s director of diversity, equity and inclusion…