The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recently opened the application period for the first round of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT) Discretionary Grant Program.
Grants will total $848 million.
As part of the President’s Investing in America agenda, the program will invest in projects to make the country’s surface transportation system – including highways, public transportation, pedestrian facilities, ports, and intercity passenger rail – more resilient to the worsening impacts of climate change, while reducing long-term costs by minimizing demands for more expensive future maintenance and rebuilding. The program prioritizes innovative and collaborative approaches to risk reduction – including approaches that harness the power of nature to protect against flood, erosion, wave damage, and heat impacts.
The program also addresses the needs of disadvantaged communities.
“Every community in America knows the impacts of climate change and extreme weather, whether that means record rainfall in California, flooding up and down the Mississippi River; hurricanes venturing as far south as Puerto Rico and as far north as Delaware; or wildfires not limited to a defined season and becoming instead a constant threat to more and more Americans,” FHWA Administrator Shailen Bhatt said. “This investment from the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure our infrastructure is built to withstand more frequent and unpredictable extreme weather is critical for communities counting on a road or bridge to be open for first responders, and it is critical for a business that must get its essential goods to shelves.”
The application period ends Aug. 18.