Walla Walla, Washington is getting a new paved multiuse path along Whitman Drive, funded by a $278,089 federal Carbon Reduction Program grant aimed at reducing short car trips in the small southeastern Washington city of about 34,000 people.

The project will construct an asphalt path along the south side of Whitman Drive between Davis Avenue and Whitman Drive, with ADA-compliant ramps at three intersections: Davis, Evans, and Academy Way. The location sits near Whitman College, where some 1,500 students, faculty, and staff currently make daily trips in a corridor that lacks a dedicated walking or biking surface. Without a path, residents and students have been forced to walk in the roadway or drive distances short enough to cover on foot.

The funding comes from the Carbon Reduction Program, created by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as the first federal highway formula program specifically targeting transportation-related carbon emissions. Transportation accounts for roughly 29 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, with short light-duty vehicle trips among the biggest contributors. The federal program provides about $6.4 billion nationally through 2026, and Washington state has been an active participant, backed by its own Climate Commitment Act and a state transportation emissions strategy.

At $278,000, this project is typical of how Carbon Reduction Program dollars tend to land at the local level: not in headline-grabbing megaprojects, but in practical infrastructure gaps that make non-car options viable for ordinary trips. The three ADA ramps included in the design signal that the path is also addressing a basic accessibility failure, not just a cycling amenity.

The grant was posted November 25, 2025. Construction timing has not been publicly announced.