$5.1B in Funding Available for Significant National Infrastructure Projects

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. DOT announces it is accepting applications for $5.1 billion in funding for Mega, INFRA, and Rural programs. The deadline is May 6, 2024.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced the Department of Transportation is accepting applications for $5.1 billion in funding. The funding will go toward “projects of regional or national significance for three major discretionary grant programs. The application process has been streamlined into the single Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant Program (MPDF) opportunity.” In its first two years of the infrastructure law, almost $8 billion in grants were provided to communities through the program by the Biden-Harris Administration. The funds go toward rebuilding infrastructure, creating good-paying jobs, and creating a clean-energy economy. 

The deadline for applications is May 6, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. 

Within the available funding, this includes:

• $1.7 billion for the National Infrastructure Project Assistance (Mega) program: Mega invests in larger, complex projects that “are difficult” to fund via other means. These projects are likely to generate national/regional economic, mobility, and safety benefit. Eligible projects include “highway, bridge, freight, port, passenger rail, and public transportation projects of national or regional significance. Per the law, 50% of funds are available for projects above $500 million in total cost, and 50% are available for projects between $100 million and $500 million in total cost.”
• $2.7 billion for the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) program: This program awards grants to multimodal freight and highway projects that improve the safety, accessibility, efficiency, and reliability of the movement of both freight and passenger in rural and urban areas. The U.S. DOT says eligible projects “will improve safety, generate economic benefits, reduce congestion, enhance resiliency, and hold the greatest promise to eliminate supply chain bottlenecks and improve critical freight movements.”
• $780 million for the Rural Surface Transportation Grant (Rural) program: This program is dedicated to projects in rural areas specifically, and eligible projects for these include “highway, bridge, and tunnel projects that help improve freight, safety, and provide or increase access to agricultural, commercial, energy, or transportation facilities that support the economy of a rural area.”

The awards for the previous round of grants were announced earlier this year and at the end of 2023. Some of the projects that were announced to receive previous grants include “replacing the Blatnik Bridge from Duluth, Minnesota, to Superior, Washington; replacing the I-5 Bridge over the Columbia River between Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon; improving 10 miles of I-10 through the Gila River Indian Community and Pinal County in Arizona; making multimodal improvements in the I-376 corridor of Pittsburgh; and reconnecting communities divided by the Cross Bronx Expressway in New York. The full list of awards announced in the last round can be viewed here: Mega, Infra, Rural.”

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Natalie Quillian said, “Today’s announcement of over $5 billion will fund transformative infrastructure projects that unlock opportunities for communities across the country while creating good-paying jobs and boosting economic competitiveness. . . This announcement is part of the President’s Investing in America agenda, which is building a safe, efficient, and reliable transportation system nationwide.”

Secretary Buttigieg said, “Through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, today we are making over $5 billion available for major infrastructure projects that benefit the economy and quality of life of entire regions of America, from our biggest cities to ur most rural areas. . . This will support major infrastructure projects that [are] so large, complex and ambitious that they could not get funded under the infrastructure programs that existed prior to this administration.”