The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration said it is providing more than $229 million in emergency relief for repairs to roads and bridges damaged due to natural disasters, catastrophic events and extreme weather.
The money was awarded to 26 states, Guam and Puerto Rico, officials said and will be provided as part of the FHWA’s Emergency Relief (ER) program.
“As communities recover from the impacts of increasingly extreme weather, they have our support in the process of restoring and rebuilding their transportation infrastructure,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. “With the $229.9 million we’re announcing today, our Department is helping communities across the country to restore the transportation links that Americans depend upon to stay connected to jobs, schools, and one another.”
The funding will cover requests from state departments of transportation that were unable to be fully funding last year because of limited program funding. The money includes funding for continued repairs from Hurricanes Ian and Nicole, flooding in California, mudslides in Vermont and other disasters. The Continuing Appropriations Act and Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act was signed into law in December 2024, and included more than $8 billion in additional relief for the FHWA Emergency Relief Program.
The awards include nearly $3 million for Alaska to cover damage for flooding across northern portions of the state in June of 2023; $182,087 for Arkansas to help repair damage from severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds and flooding in May 2015; and more than $1 million for North Carolina for damages from storms and flooding along the barrier coast and throughout the western part of the state in January 2024.
“Natural disasters dramatically impact the lives of countless communities across the nation, and this funding can often be crucial to repair damaged transportation connections that travelers rely upon,” said Acting Federal Highway Deputy Administrator Gloria M. Shepherd. “The Federal Highway Administration works with these states to help ensure they receive the funding quickly.”