Rebuilding America’s infrastructure is receiving a hefty boost from the Department of Transportation (DOT): $7.5 billion is earmarked from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
In late March 2024, the DOT announced it is accepting applications for four grant programs. Three discretionary programs totaling $5.1 billion streamline into the Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant (MPDG) Program, and another $2.4 billion is available through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program.
The programs, meant to improve the quality of life for communities nationwide, also brings the promises of economic security for skilled technicians through the creation of a host of good-paying jobs.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in statements that the MPDG programs are meant to support infrastructure programs, “so large, complex, and ambitious that they could not get funded under the infrastructure programs that existed prior to this administration.”
While the CRISI funding represents “the biggest funding round in history for the program that modernizes freight and intercity passenger rail infrastructure,” Buttigieg said.
Funding includes:
- $1.7 billion for the National Infrastructure Project Assistance program, serving difficult-to-fund projects “likely to generate national or regional economic, mobility or safety benefits,” according to DOT.
- $2.7 billion for Infrastructure for Rebuilding America program projects meant to “improve safety, generate economic benefits, reduce congestion, enhance resiliency and work to eliminate supply chain bottlenecks and improve critical freight movements.”
- $780 million for the Rural Surface Transportation Grant program for projects covering highways, bridges and tunnels that “provide or increase access to agricultural, commercial, energy or transportation facilities that support the economy of a rural area.”
The $2.4 billion earmarked for CRISI programs are to be used in improving “the safety, efficiency and reliability of intercity passenger and freight rail.”
The deadlines are May 6 to apply for MPDG and May 28 for CRISI.
