As part of the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grant program, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) will distribute $1.8 billion in awards for 148 projects across the country.
The demand for RAISE funding outpaced available funds, however, with the Department receiving almost $13 billion in overall requests.
RAISE is a competitive program dedicated to rebuilding and repairing critical infrastructure through a mix of domestic materials and incentives for private sector investment. As a result of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, it gained $1.5 billion per year on top of already appropriated funds, allowing it to tackle projects of both local and regional significance. This funding is split equally between urban and rural areas, although a percentage is mandated for historically disadvantaged or areas of persistent poverty specifically.
“After decades of underinvestment, the condition of America’s infrastructure is now finally getting better instead of worse – and today we proudly announce our support for 148 more projects in communities of every size across the country,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. “Through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we’re funding projects across the country to make roads safer, make it easier for people to move around their community, make transportation infrastructure more resilient to extreme weather, and improve supply chains to keep costs down for consumers.”
Recipients for this year’s funds received as much as $25 million in some cases, as with the Alaska Highway Permafrost Degradation Restoration Project that will restore approximately 45 miles of the Alaska Highway – the only all-season overland corridor to the lower 48 states – hit by thawing permafrost and other climate change hastened degradation. Ranges varied significantly, though. Take the Browning Streets Community Connectivity Planning Project on the Blackfeet Reservation, Montana, for example, which received more than $3.9 million for planning and design of street reconstruction.
State and local governments, counties, Tribal governments, transit agencies, and port authorities are able to seek funds from RAISE to pursue multi-modal and multi-jurisdictional projects that are focused on critical freight and passenger transportation.