What are the sources from which recipients can gain funding for transportation infrastructure?

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the “IIJA”)[1] was signed into law by President Biden on November 15, 2021. The IIJA provides many funding opportunities to municipalities seeking to build new transportation infrastructure or improve preexisting transportation infrastructure. The White House has released the first edition of its Building a Better America guidebook (the “Guidebook”), which provides implementation guidance related to IIJA funding opportunities.[2] The Guidebook describes itself as:

[A] roadmap to the funding available under the law, as well as an explanatory document that shows direct federal spending at the program level. To this end, the White House has also published an accompanying data file that allows users to quickly sort programs funded under the law by fields like agency, amount, recipient, or program name.[3]

Municipalities can use the data file[4] to find all available funding sources and determine which funding opportunities are available and most relevant to them. The data file will also help municipalities identify the 380 programs that will receive IIJA funding, together with key information about each program, such as the federal agency facilitating the program, the recipients of its funds, their eligible uses, etc.

Furthermore, the Guidebook addresses the sources from which recipients can gain funding for their respective transportation infrastructure projects:

This guidebook is another step in our effort to be as transparent as possible, so you know what to apply for, who to contact, and how to get ready to rebuild . . . we have also included upcoming key dates and date ranges for key activities, along with planning activities you can be doing now to prepare for these programs coming across 2022 and 2023. The online version at Build.gov will also host an application to quickly sort and filter programs by agency, issue or eligible recipient to better understand the available funding within the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. [5]

Municipalities may wish to review the Guidebook,[6] because it is "a one-stop-shop on the law and contains the most comprehensive information to date on the more than 375 programs included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.”[7] Municipalities should designate a point person to continually monitor IIJA guidance for updates.

In addition, municipalities should monitor the websites of the federal funding agency administering the relevant program to verify upcoming program deadlines. For example, the U.S. Department of Transportation has issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (“NOFO”) for its Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant Opportunity to solicit applications for three IIJA-funded programs: National Infrastructure Project Assistance grants program (“Mega”), the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight and Highway Projects grants program (“INFRA”), and the Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program.[8]