Birmingham officials are offering more details about the recently announced nearly $22 million federal trails grant and what is means for the city.

The funding injects momentum into a nearly $30 million overall project to bring more than 3 miles of new bike and walking trails throughout the city, providing enhancement to the areas boarded by paths.

The federal RAISE grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, provides the bulk of funding for trials that will crisscross the city. The $21.6 million grant, along with city funding, will create the Birmingham Urban Trail and Multimodal Corridor. The corridor is a 2.5-mile trail that will run through the Civil Rights District downtown, the Smithfield neighborhood and surrounding communities headed west. The urban trial will extend from City Walk near the BJCC south to Morris Avenue.

“It made sense to put these two projects together and package it as one project,” explained Christina Argo, strategic projects and innovation division manager for Birmingham’s department of transportation. “Our partners and the city are highly motived ­to get this one the ground soon.”

The project brings the ability to deliver revitalization and economic growth along their paths, said U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham.

“It gives us the opportunity to attract businesses to our community,” she said. “So many industries are looking for downtown areas that are walkable and livable and bikeable as an asset. “It’s an opportunity for us to grow economically in Birmingham and in the 7th Congressional District.”

Argo said new features will support existing outdoor activity, while also encouraging more people to take advantage of the new amenities.

“It’s going to be transformative for the western part of Birmingham,” Argo said. “You can walk or bike all the way to Legion Field and be very safe and comfortable and have an enjoyable experience outside your car.”

Along the with new trails will also come more comfortable mass transit bus stops and trees lining the pathways, Argo said.

“Along the east, west connection, we are going to do enhanced bus stops. It is going to have modern facilities that have covers and protection from the weather,” Argo said regarding the path running from Graymont Avenue to Fifth Avenue. “This is actually a busy corridor and it make sense for us to further enhance that corridor and make it easier for buses to pick up passengers.”

Early planning is underway for the massive project that is expected to take several years. Sewell call Birmingham’s concept a potential model elsewhere.

“I look forward to Birmingham sharing their best practices so that other communities in the state of Alabama and in Alabama’s 7th Congressional District can also compete and win RAISE grants from the Department of Transportation,” Sewell said.