Cool Corridors Act of 2025

This bill renews and updates the Healthy Streets program to make walking, biking, and riding transit cooler and safer, especially in places hit hardest by extreme heat. It backs planting trees, adding shade, and other nature-based fixes along sidewalks, bike lanes, bus stops, transit hubs, and school areas, with plans to keep these assets healthy over time. It expands who can apply for funds to include transit agencies, state transportation departments, school districts, and tree and greenspace groups, and it defines “cool corridors” as routes improved with tree canopy, shade structures, and similar strategies to lower temperatures.

Funds can be used to plan, build, and maintain green infrastructure; add smart sensors to track heat; engage the community; train workers; and fold cooling features into new or existing street projects, especially near schools and in busy walking areas. Projects that improve access to transit, schools, jobs, or essential services, have strong maintenance plans, leverage other funding, protect existing trees, use low‑maintenance species, or create urban forestry jobs get priority. Agencies must coordinate across EPA, Energy, HUD, USDA Forest Service, and climate research programs. Grantees get technical help and guidance on tree choices and long‑term care; if trees are planted, they can’t block safety views and must be maintained by the grantee. Grantees must report each year on temperature drops, infrastructure resilience, health and equity results, costs and benefits, and community engagement. The program is extended through 2030, and within five years the Transportation Department must report results and whether to make it permanent and fold it into a larger transportation grant program.

• Who is affected: Cities, transit agencies, state DOTs, school districts, tree/greenspace groups, and people who walk, bike, or use transit—especially in hotter neighborhoods.
• What changes: More eligible applicants; broader uses like sensors, workforce training, and long‑term maintenance; clear priority rules; federal coordination; annual reporting; tree safety and care requirements.
• When: Program runs through 2030; a federal report to Congress is due five years after enactment.