- Granting Agency: Dept. of Transportation
- Appropriation Amount: $3,400,000
- Grant Amount: $150,000 – $360,000 (No cost share)
- Announcement Date: June 15, 2023
- Closing Date: Aug 14 – Sep 27, 2023
Purpose:
The intent of the program is to advance transportation infrastructure projects in rural and tribal communities by supporting development-phase activities for projects reasonably expected to be eligible for certain USDOT credit and grant programs. However, there is no requirement for grantees to apply for other funding programs in the future.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58) is a generational investment in the nation’s transportation system. Section 21205 of Division B of the BIL (Rural and Tribal Infrastructure Advancement) creates a pilot program to provide grants to fund financial, technical, and legal assistance to states and rural and tribal communities. The grants are intended to augment organizational capacity in communities that may not have resources available to evaluate and develop projects that qualify for federal funding and financing programs.
Eligible Expenditures:
Per the Program’s requirements, projects receiving assistance under the program must be reasonably expected to be eligible for any one or more of the Department’s lending or grant programs. Because the program provides assistance for development-phase activities, it is anticipated that many projects may be in such early development phases that project costs, funding streams, delivery methods, and even the project descriptions themselves may not be fully formed. The Bureau will determine whether the project(s) proposed can reasonably be eligible for any of the programs to meet this funding Program’s requirements. These applicable programs are TIFIA, RRIF, INFRA, RAISE, Mega, and the National Culvert Removal, Replacement, and Restoration Grant Program.
Eligible Applicants:
Applicants for the Program must be one of the following:
i. a unit of local government or political subdivision that is located outside of an urbanized area4 with a population of more than 150,000 residents as determined by the Bureau of the Census;
ii. a state seeking to advance a project in an area located outside of an urbanized area with a population of more than 150,000 residents as determined by the Bureau of the Census;
iii. a federally recognized Indian Tribe; or
iv. the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.