Westpark Apartments (Photo: West Philly Local).

The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA), which provides affordable housing for Philadelphia’s low-income residents and which has been working on the redevelopment plan for the Westpark Apartments in West Philadelphia, will receive $21.3 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The grant will support the creation of a new street grid and pedestrian infrastructure to facilitate the redevelopment of the apartment complex located near 46th and Market.

The project will include an extension of the existing street grid in order to create new space for housing and connect the Westpark Apartments footprint to SEPTA’s 46th Street station. It will also create a new network of shared streets, sidewalks, and bike infrastructure that will help integrate new, forthcoming housing more seamlessly into the neighborhood.

U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and John Fetterman (D-PA) and U.S. Representative Dwight Evans (D-PA-3) helped secure the grant. The funding comes from a Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability & Equity (RAISE) Grant, funded by the Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act (IIJA).

“This RAISE grant will support the infrastructure needed to create the new Westpark housing development and connect the campus to transit and green space,” said Senator Fetterman. “This is a smart, thoughtful project that will greatly improve the lives of the people who will live at the redeveloped Westpark Apartments.”

“The grant marks a tremendous milestone in the redevelopment of Westpark,” said PHA President and CEO Kelvin A. Jeremiah. “It will ensure that once the project is complete, residents will have ready access to SEPTA and to public parkland.”

This year marks the fourth consecutive year members of Congress have secured RAISE grants for infrastructure projects in Philadelphia. Last year, SEPTA received $25 million to modernize trolleys. In 2022, the “Great Streets PHL” project was awarded $25 million to make safety improvements to high-crash corridors in historically disadvantaged communities. In 2021, shortly following passage of IIJA, SEPTA won $15 million to renovate the 19th and 37th Street Trolley Subway Stations and make them accessible for people with disabilities.