USDOT makes $1.5 billion available for infrastructure projects

The U.S. Transportation Department’s Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) discretionary grant program, which advances a pre-existing grant program established in the 2015 FAST Act, will place a heavy focus on rural building projects.

   The U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) will make available about $1.5 billion to repair crumbling infrastructure through the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) discretionary grant program.
   INFRA advances a pre-existing grant program established in the 2015 FAST Act and uses updated criteria to evaluate projects to align them with national and regional economic goals and to leverage additional non-federal funding, the department said in a statement.
   DOT said INFRA will “increase the impact of projects by leveraging capital and allowing innovation in the project delivery and permitting processes, including public-private partnerships.”
   In addition, the program will also evaluate the performance and accountability in project delivery and operations.
   “By ensuring the right incentives, projects selected under this program will be better able to make significant, long-term improvements to America’s transportation infrastructure,” said Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.
   The grant program is available to both large and small projects. Grants for large projects must be at least $25 million, while small projects will be a minimum of $5 million. For each fiscal year of INFRA funds, 10 percent of that will be set aside for small projects, DOT said.
   The department will make awards under the INFRA program to both large and small projects. For a large project, an INFRA grant must be at least $25 million. For a small project, the grant must be at least $5 million. For each fiscal year of INFRA funds, 10 percent of available funds will be reserved for small projects. Twenty-five percent of INFRA funds will go to rural infrastructure projects.
   “INFRA grants may be used to fund a variety of components of an infrastructure project, however, the department is specifically focused on projects in which the local sponsor is significantly invested and is positioned to proceed rapidly to construction,” DOT said.