Transportation

The Alaska Transportation Funding Opportunity Hub provides public access to state programs and federal grants that are available to Alaska communities to support transportation improvement across the state. The clearinghouse additionally provides a dashboard of projects that have been submitted for various funding programs. These opportunities include state programs such as Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) and Community Transportation Program (CTP), as well and federal Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs).

AK Transportation Funding Opportunity Hub

Transportation

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) reauthorizes federal surface transportation programs for five years and invests approximately $400 billion over that period to repair our roads and bridges and support transformational projects that will create good-paying union jobs, boost regional and the national economy, make our transportation system safer and more resilient.

Funding Overview:
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also contains significant new funding for roadways, bridges, and other major projects funded by the Federal Highway Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). Highlights include:

  • A total of $40 billion in dedicated funding for bridges. This funding includes $12.5 billion for the Bridge Investment Program, which is a competitive program to replace, rehabilitate, preserve, or protect some of the nation’s most important and economically significant bridges. The rest of the funds fall under the Bridge Formula Program, which provides formula funding to States to replace, rehabilitate, preserve, protect, and construct bridges on public roads. Notably, the program includes a 15 percent ($4 billion) set aside for off-system bridges. These are bridges often owned and maintained by cities, counties, and towns—and typically located on roads normally ineligible for federal highway funding. On January 14, 2022, the Department of Transportation released the first year of funding for the Bridge Formula Program. $5.3 billion will be available to states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico in Fiscal Year 2022, along with $165 million for Tribal governments. The federal government will also cover 100 percent of the cost of off-system bridge projects under the Bridge Formula Program for bridges owned by a local government or Tribe. (See Fiscal Year 2022 State apportionment here).
  • $8 billion for the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) Program, which supports freight and highway projects of regional and national significance.
  • $7.5 billion for Rebuilding American Infrastructure Sustainably and Equitably (RAISE) grants—a competitive grant program (formerly BUILD and TIGER) which provides funding for road, rail, transit, and other surface transportation of local and/or regional significance. Selection criteria includes safety, sustainability, equity, economic competitiveness, mobility, and community connectivity.
  • $5 billion for the National Infrastructure Project Assistance or “Megaprojects.” This program—sometimes referred to as the “Megaprojects program” or MEGA —provides grants on a competitive basis to support multijurisdictional or regional projects of significance that may also cut across multiple modes of transportation. Communities are eligible to apply for funding to complete critical large projects that would otherwise be unachievable without assistance.

The USDOT has created a Rural Applicant Toolkit; this toolkit provides information on finding USDOT grant opportunities and maximizing application competitiveness.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also includes a five-year reauthorization for the Federal Highway Administration at the Department of Transportation. A major component of this reauthorization is $273.2 billion in Federal-aid highway formula funding for States.

DOT Discretionary Grants Dashboard

The DOT Discretionary Grants Dashboard provides communities with an overview of discretionary grant opportunities that can help meet their transportation infrastructure needs.

  1. Roads, Bridges, and Major Projects
  2. Passenger and Freight Rail
  3. Public Transportation
  4. Airports and Federal Aviation Administration Facilities
  5. Ports and Waterways
  6. Safety
  7. Electric Vehicles, Buses, and Ferries

The above information comes from the BIL Guidebook available at build.gov.

The USDOT Rural Infrastructure Fact Sheet has information on BIL programs that are designed for rural communities.

Transportation Grant Programs

Other Resources

USDOT Complete Streets
USDOT Equity Resources Planning Definition
Map – U.S. National Bridge Inventory

Available Grants