Is street infrastructure work intended to make streets safer for people to recreate outdoors eligible under ARP?

According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s (“Treasury”) Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (“CSLFRF”) Final Rule, some types of street infrastructure work intended to make streets safer for people to recreate outdoors may be considered eligible expenditures under the Final Rule if they are investments in “public outdoor recreation spaces” or intended to develop “neighborhood features that promote improved health and safety outcomes” in disproportionately impacted communities:

[T]he final rule clarified that investments in parks and other public outdoor recreation spaces are enumerated eligible uses for disproportionately impacted communities. In including these uses, Treasury took into account evidence on the social determinants of health, or the ways that social context, like the neighborhood built environment, impacts health outcomes.[1]

The final rule includes enumerated eligibles uses in disproportionately impacted communities for developing neighborhood features that promote improved health and safety outcomes, such as parks, green spaces, recreational facilities, sidewalks, pedestrian safety features like crosswalks, projects that increase access to healthy foods, streetlights, neighborhood cleanup, and other projects to revitalize public spaces.[2]

Recipients should be aware that general infrastructure spending is largely ineligible for CSLFRF funds, except for specific pandemic-response purposes as a provision of government services:

In the final rule, Treasury is maintaining the approach under the interim final rule that general infrastructure projects, including roads, streets, and surface transportation infrastructure, would generally not be eligible, unless the project responded to a specific pandemic public health need or a specific negative economic impact.[3]

However, the Final Rule identifies several acceptable uses of CSLFRF revenue replacement funds to fund infrastructure improvements:

Sections 602(c)(1)(C) and 603(c)(1)(C) of the Social Security Act provide that [CSLFRF] funds may be used “for the provision of government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue [. . .]”[4]

Government services include, but are not limited to, maintenance or pay-go funded building of infrastructure, including roads; modernization of cybersecurity, including hardware, software, and protection of critical infrastructure; health services; environmental remediation; school or educational services; and the provision of police, fire, and other public safety services. [5]

Additional information may be provided when Treasury issues new Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQ”) specific to the Final Rule, as indicated in the Interim Final Rule FAQs.[6] Treasury also encourages municipalities to consider the guidance issued in the Statement Regarding Compliance with the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Interim Final Rule and Final Rule.[7]

Last Updated: March 14, 2022