Our continuation of the financial breakdown of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) is back, with part II of funding for transportation-related programs. Last week, we broke down the first part of the funding for roads, bridges, and railways. Now, we finish it.
Funding (Part II)
Picking up where we left off last week, our list continues with an extensive breakdown:
- National Highway Freight Program: IIJA provides $7.15 billion in formula grants for states and the District of Columbia for projects that contribute to the efficient movement of freight on the National Highway Freight Network and are identified in a freight investment plan included in the State’s freight plan.
- Metropolitan Planning Program: IIJA provides $2.28 billion in formula grants to metropolitan organizations. Metropolitan planning activities include the collection and analysis of data on demographics, trends, and system performance, travel demand and system performance forecasting, identification and prioritization of transportation system improvement needs, and coordination of the planning process and decision making with the public, elected officials, and stakeholder groups.
- Appalachian Development Highway System Grants: IIJA provides $1.25 billion in formula grants to states in the Appalachian region.
- Highway Safety Improvement Program: IIJA provides approximately $15.6 billion in formula grants to states and the District of Columbia for critical safety funding that is used to save lives and prevent serious injuries on all public roads.
- Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act Program: IIJA provides $1.25 billion in loans to states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, localities, or other public authorities. Eligible projects include highways, transit, intercity passenger rail, ferries, trains, and associated infrastructure.
- Highway Use Tax Evasion Projects: IIJA provides $20 million in competitive grants and allocations to states and the IRS to carry out intergovernmental enforcement efforts, along with training and research to reduce evasion of payment of motor fuel and other highway use taxes.
- On-the-Job Training Supportive Services Program: IIJA provides $50 million in competitive grants and allocation to states to develop the capacity of the Nation’s current and future highway construction industry workforce by providing the development and diversity of skilled labor to move minorities, women, and disadvantaged individuals into journey-level positions.
- Disadvantaged Business Enterprises: IIJA provides $50 million of competitive grants, contracts, and allocations to states to assist small and disadvantaged firms.
- Railway-Highway Crossing Program: IIJA provides approximately $1.23 billion in formula grants to states and the District of Columbia that have projects with the goal of reducing the number of fatalities, injuries, and crashes at public railway-highway grade crossings.
- Bridge Investment Program: IIJA provides $12.2 billion in competitive grants to states, metropolitan planning organizations, local governments, special purpose districts, and tribal governments. The program will support projects to improve bridge and culvert condition, safety, efficiency, and reliability.
- Highway Safety Research & Development: IIJA provides $970 million in grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts to states, counties, cities, townships, special districts, tribes, educational institutions, nonprofits, businesses, and individuals to fund research and development activities for highway and traffic safety systems, human behavioral factors, evaluation of the effectiveness of countermeasures to increase highway and traffic safety, development of technologies to detect drug impaired drivers, and driver education programs.
- National Culvert Removal, Replacement, & Removal Grant: IIJA provides $1 billion in grants to states, units of local governments, or tribes to projects that would meaningfully improve or restore fish passage.
- Advanced Transportation Technologies & Innovative Mobility Development: IIJA provides $900 million in competitive grants, cooperative agreements, and other contracts to state or local governments, transit agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, or a multijurisdictional group or academic institutions for projects that improve safety mobility, efficiency, system performance, intermodal connectivity, and infrastructure return on investment.
- Nationally Significant Federal Lands and Tribal Projects: IIJA provides $275 million in competitive grants to any entity eligible to receive funding under the Tribal Transportation Program, Federal Lands Transportation Program, or Federal Lands Access Program. Projects include the construction, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of nationally significant Federal lands transportation projects, and Tribal transportation projects.
- Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Grants: IIJA provides $36 billion in competitive grants to fund capital projects that reduce the state of good repair backlog, improve performance, or expand/establish new intercity passenger rail service, including privately operated intercity passenger rail service.
- Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement Grants: IIJA provides $5 billion in competitive grants to fund projects that improve the safety, efficiency, and reliability of intercity passenger and freight rail.
- Restoration & Enhancement Grant Program: IIJA provides $250 million in competitive grants to provide operating assistance to initiate, restore, or enhance intercity passenger rail service.
- Rail Vehicle Replacement Grants: IIJA provides $1.5 billion in competitive grants to state and local government authorities. It provides funding for capital projects for the replacement of rail rolling stock.
- Interstate Rail Compacts Grant Program: IIJA provides $15 million for interstate rail compacts’ administrative costs and to conduct railroad systems planning, promotion of intercity passenger rail operations, and the preparations of grant applications.
The funding for roads, bridges, and railways is done. As you can see, the list is extensive, and there's a lot of money for many projects that probably fell by the wayside or were forgotten about. Stay tuned next week as we get into more funding in other sectors and dive deeper into the IIJA.
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Source: GFOA.org
