Chinatown Stitch, which would cap the Vine Street Expressway, is in limbo after Trump yanked funds. Can it be saved?

Wrangling a big transportation project takes deft timing: scheduling the planning and construction stages in proper order, obtaining environmental approvals, and lining up financing from local, state, and federal sources.

At least Philadelphia’s Chinatown Stitch, an effort to cap the Vine Street Expressway and reconnect the north and south sides of the neighborhood, had the money up front — until it didn’t.

Now officials are trying to figure out how best to keep the project moving while replacing the lost $159 million federal grant.

“This is a pretty unprecedented situation,” said Jesse Buerk, associate director of capital programs and project development for the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC).

“I’ve never seen it before, where a project is funded and it’s moving along through the process, and then the funds are completely rescinded,” he said, speaking at the recent committee meeting.

Congressional Republicans pushed through a massive domestic policy and spending bill last July that killed most of the Neighborhood Access and Equity grant program in the Department of Transportation.

It wasn’t just Philadelphia or the Chinatown Stitch project that got nixed. That legislation rescinded $3.2 billion that had been awarded but not yet spent through the Biden-era program, 55 projects across the nation aimed at mitigating the impact of highway projects on marginalized communities.

President Donald Trump’s administration targeted equity and access transportation projects as wasteful “DEI”-style spending.

The city proposed using a different source of federal funding controlled by PennDot to finance the final design of the Stitch project, which would be needed before it could be considered “shovel ready.” That way, the project could progress while city officials look for construction money.

But at a meeting earlier this month, the DVRPC’s Regional Technical Committee voted to table the city’s request to study it further.

Several suburban residents on the technical committee, composed of experts from the eight counties in the region and the state governments of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, had raised concerns about spending up to $12.5 million on the design work without having construction money locked up.

“This request is a significant gamble if you’re not able to recoup those reconnecting communities [funds],” said Brian E. Styche, a transportation planner for Chester County. “We would just like more time to discuss what the plan B is.”

DVRPC’s board of directors is scheduled to discuss the city proposal on Thursday.

Christopher Puchalsky, policy director for the city’s Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems, said he understood the concerns: “I don’t think there’s any arguing with the fact there’s some amount of risk.”

The city was able to complete planning and engineering work with $8.4 million of the grant. It needs to secure final design funding before federal environmental review and approval, Puchalsky said.

Not being able to move forward would add additional delay to the project, he said.

The city is exploring alternatives for construction money, including the possibility of tax-increment financing for at least some of the funds, Puchalsky said.

That form of financing uses property tax revenue for development in a specific local district.

“There’s just enormous community support and political support for this project that a lot of the folks have been waiting 40 years for,” he said.

The Chinatown Stitch project involves building a cap over I-676 from just east of 10th Street to 13th Street, allowing for a park as well as more developable land. It would reconnect the north and south sides of the neighborhood, which are split by the interstate.