A new study has ranked Alief and Gulfton as two of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Houston when it comes to traffic injuries and fatalities for children. But a $43 million federal grant could soon help reduce the danger.

Rice University's Baker Institute found that three of the four most dangerous areas for children walking and biking in Houston are in Alief and Gulfton. Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher, who represents both neighborhoods, helped arrange a grant through the Department of Transportation to deal with the threat, as well as to deal with similar problems in Kashmere Gardens.

"What it's going to do," Fletcher said, "(is) it's going to repair and reconstruct and rehabilitate sidewalks that are going to connect residents to education and economic opportunities, jobs, community amenities. In Gulfton, it's projected to impact about 37,000 residents."

The grant will also fund new green stormwater infrastructure and the planting of tree canopy to mitigate heat. Last year, Houston Public Media investigated how extreme heat affects residents who rely on public transportation. It found that adding tree canopy could mitigate the problem.

"That is a huge concern for me and something that we're very actively working on through the community-funded project process and others to address the heat issues in that part of our city," Fletcher said, "Gulfton is the hottest neighborhood in Houston, and it's been identified as hotter in August than the coolest part of the city, and tree canopy is such an important part of that."

Fletcher said it was unclear how quickly the grant would roll out. But she noted that the Biden administration has made it a priority to move fast on similar allocations from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

"What we have seen (over) just the last couple of years is that Congress really made it a priority to invest in our infrastructure and the administration has gotten to work quickly in making sure that these funds get distributed," Fletcher said. "And so I would anticipate this grant money moving quite quickly out of the Department of Transportation now that the decision has been made."

View this article on Houston Public Media.