U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced a new initiative for rural communities to get access to federal grant funds.
A new applicant toolkit for the Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (ROUTES) Initiative would give rural communities a user-friendly toolkit to find information and resources about discretionary grant programs within the US DOT and how the funding process works.
“The ROUTES Applicant Toolkit will help rural communities better identify and navigate grant funding opportunities for rural transportation projects,” Chao said.
The department said that while rural communities and their transportation networks are instrumental in building and supplying urban areas across the country, rural transportation infrastructure has significant challenges.
While only 20 percent of Americans live in rural areas, 70 percent of America’s roads are in rural areas and carry nearly 50 percent of the country’s truck traffic. Of the country’s bridges that are posted for a weight limits, 90 percent are in rural areas. In addition, 44 percent of automobile travel on rural roads is done by those from urban area. Additionally, traffic fatalities on rural roads are twice that of roads in urban areas.
The new ROUTES Toolkit would help those in rural areas navigate how to access the US DOT discretionary grants and financing products by illustrating key applicant requirements when participating in the grants process, cataloguing grant programs by applicant type and eligible activities, and providing resources for applicants to maximize the potential for success.