A vehicle crosses a bridge on Interstate 40 that goes over the Little Colorado River in Winslow, Arizona, on Feb. 4, 2022. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently announced a flood control project in the city would receive $65 million in funding. WINSLOW, Ariz. — — This once-bustling city in northern Arizona has a troubled relationship with rain. Winslow needs it, but just a little can overwhelm a levee system that officials have pleaded with the federal government for years to fix.
The Biden administration recently announced $14 billion in spending on environmental restoration and infrastructure projects like the one in Winslow, where most residents are Native American or Hispanic, the median household income is less than $38,000 a year and a quarter of residents live in poverty. They say the spending is in line with Justice40 but have not detailed how.
And the corner off Route 66 made famous in the Eagles song “Take it Easy,” with the line “Standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona,” would look more like a stream than a sidewalk in a flood, the city said. Estrella D. Santiago Pérez, an environmental affairs manager for a group that has long pushed for the Puerto Rico dredging project, said the $163 million in federal funding will help improve the health of the San Juan Bay Estuary. It also will enhance living conditions for residents near the Martín Peña Channel who suffer when frequent flooding sends sewage-infested water into their homes. Some residents must relocate.
Rural counties such as Navajo and Santa Cruz in California have pushed for years for social justice to be more of a factor in funding from the Army Corps so that projects from disadvantaged communities would be more competitive. Local officials also have said that poor, small and rural communities struggle without the resources they need for studies.