{"id":303329,"date":"2026-05-06T23:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T23:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/303329\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T23:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T23:17:09","slug":"3-million-federal-investment-inches-sacramento-freeway-park-idea-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/303329\/","title":{"rendered":"$3 million federal investment inches Sacramento freeway park idea forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

The idea of building a park that would stitch the I-5 freeway in downtown Sacramento, connecting the city’s core to the Old Sacramento waterfront, moved a step forward today. The proposal is still early enough that the city has not yet released any detailed plans or timelines.
The park, if built, would stretch over the freeway, a plan discussed by elected city leaders for over a decade. Today, Congressmember Doris Matsui announced<\/a> that she helped secure $3.15 million in federal funding to support the city\u2019s next steps in planning the build.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even with this new funding, the project is still in its early stages and likely years away from construction. Infrastructure projects as large as this often require hundreds of millions of dollars to complete and years of planning to even break ground. Matsui requested $5 million dollars<\/a> of federal support to build the park in 2024.<\/p>\n

\"RENDERPARK\"A rendering of a park built above Interstate 5, connecting Old Sacramento to downtown.Courtesy of Downtown Sacramento Partnership<\/p>\n

Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty said that with this money, the city will be able to determine the next phases, such as design, grant requests, and how a proposal can move toward construction.<\/p>\n

\"PARKFREEWAY\"Traffic moves along Interstate 5 in downtown Sacramento on May 6, 2026, where the proposed park covering the freeway would be.Tony Rodriguez\/CapRadio<\/p>\n

\u201cThis three million dollars gets us to the room to ask for resources,\u201d McCarty said. \u201cWe never had a chance to go there until we had this money before us to do the engineering and design.\u201d
This project will add to a list of multiple large infrastructure projects that the city of Sacramento is looking to move forward with. Plans like replacing the I Street Bridge<\/a>, the Downtown Riverfront Streetcar connection<\/a>, and major redevelopment in the Railyards<\/a> in north downtown are all in progress. Many of these efforts have taken years to plan and move forward, and continue to rely on more layers of local, state, and federal funding.
Matsui said the funding is obviously not enough to cover the entire project, but it will allow the city to move it from a proposal to a well-planned concept. She said it will be necessary to secure more funding, whether from the federal government or elsewhere.
\u201cOf course it will,\u201d Matsui said when asked whether the project would cost far more than $3.15 million. \u201cEverything like this takes time.
Matsui’s announcement that she secured the $3 million comes as she\u2019s seeking re-election to represent California\u2019s 7th Congressional District<\/a>. Matsui says securing federal funding for projects like this is the reason she should stay in her seat. Her opponent in the race, Sacramento City Councilmember Mai Vang, has been critical of she calls Matsui\u2019s \u201cestablishment politics.\u201d
McCarty said the city has to pursue multiple major projects at the same time, even if Sacramento faces broader budget and infrastructure pressure.
\u201cGood thing we can walk and chew gum at the same time,\u201d McCarty said when asked about how the city can work simultaneously on several high-cost construction plans, like the I Street Bridge. \u201cThese are two separate projects, two separate pots of money we\u2019re going after.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"parkconcept\"A conceptual rendering of the proposed project was displayed during a press conference on May 6, 2026.Tony Rodriguez\/CapRadio<\/p>\n

Michael Ault is the executive director of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership. The nonprofit will work with the city on planning discussions and efforts to secure more funding. Ault pointed to similar freeway-covering park projects, such as Klyde Warren Park in Dallas<\/a>, which cost around $110 million dollars to build<\/a>.
\u201cThis gets us a long way towards getting actual construction drawings to be a shovel-ready project,\u201d Ault said. \u201cIt could be a several hundred million dollar project \u2026 but you’ve got to start somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n


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