U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called awarding $1.5 billion in INFRA grants “transformative investments in our nation’s roads, bridges, ports, and rail to improve the way Americans get around and help lower the costs of shipping goods.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation has selected 26 projects—nine rail/intermodal-related—to share $1.5 billion in INFRA (Infrastructure for Rebuilding America) grants.
The INFRA competitive grant program evaluated highway, multimodal freight and rail projects based on safety, how they supported freight movement and job creation, their efforts to address climate change and resiliency, impacts on equity and quality of life, how they applied innovative technology, their cost effectiveness, and demonstrated project readiness, USDOT reported on Sept. 15. Projects were also prioritized on their ability to deliver national or regional economic benefits. USDOT said it awarded a “significant amount of funding to rural areas, historically disadvantaged communities, and areas of persistent poverty to address historic underinvestment in these communities.” Approximately 43% of grants are going toward rural projects, which exceeds the statutory requirement to award rural projects 25% of INFRA funding, USDOT added.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—expanded INFRA eligibility to include, for example, wildlife crossing projects, marine highway corridor projects, and surface transportation projects located within or functionally connected to an international border crossing. It also “increased funding for the INFRA program by more than 50% to help meet high demand for federal funding to support projects across the country,” according to USDOT. Over the next five years, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will provide approximately $8 billion for the program, including the $1.5 billion made available in this round of funding.
The nine rail/intermodal projects sharing $514.2 million in INFRA grants are:
“Today [Sept. 15] we are announcing transformative investments in our nation’s roads, bridges, ports and rail to improve the way Americans get around and help lower the costs of shipping goods,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. “Using funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are able to support more excellent community-led projects this year than ever.”
USDOT in March issued a combined Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to allow submission of one application for three grant programs: INFRA and two new programs, the Rural Surface Transportation Grant program (RURAL), and the National Infrastructure Project Assistance program (Mega). The recipients of RURAL and Mega grants will be announced in the coming months, according to USDOT.
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