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Maine DOT recently received a $25 million federal grant for infrastructure improvements including shared-use paths and reconfigured highway ramps to better connect the East Deering neighborhood with the rest of Portland.
PORTLAND, Maine — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg praised Northeastern University and its Roux Institute on Wednesday while unveiling a transportation grant that will help connect the Roux’s future campus with its Portland neighbors.
“We’re always looking to see how good transportation infrastructure can unlock other possibilities because it takes so many pieces working together — look at Northeastern’s mission for Roux,” Buttigieg said.
The Maine Department of Transportation recently received a $25 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant for infrastructure improvements including shared-use paths and reconfigured highway ramps to better connect the East Deering neighborhood with the rest of Portland.
The neighborhood will be the future home of the Roux Institute, which was established in 2020.
“It’s not just exciting academically, it’s also exciting economically,” Buttigieg said. “And it’s going to mean a lot to the community here because it’s something as simple as making sure the people — that the human capital who’s going to power this place — can literally get to where they need to be safely and in a way that’s integrated with (the neighborhood of) East Deering and Greater Portland.”
On Wednesday, Buttigieg joined Maine Gov. Janet Mills, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine, Portland Mayor Mark Dion and others at the former B&M Baked Beans factory — site of the new campus — to announce the Maine DOT grant award.
“I’m glad this site is being preserved. I am really excited about the institute and the Roux family, and we are so grateful for the commitment they’ve made to Maine, to education, to research, and to the future,” Pingree said.
Mills concurred, noting that the grant will help return public access to that section of waterfront for the first time in more than a century.
“I could not be more excited or more supportive of Northeastern University and the Roux Institute’s plans for this incredible spot,” Mills said. “They’re making one of the largest investments in Maine’s innovation economy in a generation.
“The Roux Institute is going to expand education for graduate students and attract business investment, boost research and development and provide an anchor for life- and computer-science education in Maine.”
Dion thanked the Biden-Harris administration for awarding the grant to the Maine DOT.
“I believe in time we will look back and see that Roux has become a cornerstone in our financial and economic class here in Portland,” Dion said. “I’m also encouraged that it will bring in an entire class of individuals committed to intellectual exploration to develop the products of tomorrow.
“We don’t always think about the future as something that’s going to happen next week. I believe the future happens each and every day. I believe the Roux is committed to a similar vision.”
Buttigieg said the visit enabled him to see why the project was “a winner” of the grant program.
“This brings together three of my very favorite things: academic research being commercialized to create opportunity, adaptive reuse of historic structures, and great transportation policy,” Buttigieg said.
“What we see here is a community that found its superpower in adaptive reuse, and quality of place,” Buttigieg continued. “And found a way to create jobs in the future to make sure that people who grew up here, have every reason to stay here, or return here and make sure people are encouraged to build their lives here and thrive.”