SACRAMENTO BUSINESS JOURNAL: MATSUI REQUESTS MONEY FOR COVERING INTERSTATE 5 THROUGH PART OF DOWNTOWN SACRAMENTO

Sacramento is looking for a spot of federal money to start the process of decking over a portion of Interstate 5 through the city's downtown.

U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, is seeking $5 million out of the federal infrastructure bill to begin the study process to create a roughly 4-acre park above the freeway.

"It would be the most meaningful way to connect Downtown to the riverfront," said Scott Ford, economic development director with the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, which is pushing for the funding along with city officials.

Ford said the Riverfront Reconnection Project would build over I-5 for a stretch between Capitol Mall to about O Street, about half a mile. The new covered area would be the site of a city park and event space, while interstate traffic would still flow beneath.

But he also emphasized the process is at a very early stage. Getting $5 million would be a relative drop in the bucket for a conceptual project that, in execution, has cost hundreds of millions of dollars in other cities, he said.

The concept was first floated in the 1990s, and was also included in the city of Sacramento's Riverfront Master Plan in the 2000s, Ford said.

"This is a new effort," he said, partially inspired by $3 billion in the 2021 federal infrastructure bill to reconnect communities separated by freeways.

Federal appropriations for the 2025 fiscal year, including some infrastructure bill spending, are expected this fall.

"We'll see what the timing looks like, but we're excited the congresswoman has seen the vision of what this would be," Ford said.

He added creating more and making better use of existing public spaces, as this project would do, is one of the recommendations a panel of Urban Land Institute experts made to help revitalize Downtown Sacramento. A report including that recommendation was released earlier this month.

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