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USDOT: First TIGER, Then BUILD, Now RAISE – Grant Applications Welcome

Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
“In communities across the country, there is tremendous need for transportation projects that create high-quality jobs, improve safety, protect our environment and generate equitable economic opportunity for all Americans,” U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said. “With RAISE grants, we are making those needed investments in our communities’ future.”

“In communities across the country, there is tremendous need for transportation projects that create high-quality jobs, improve safety, protect our environment and generate equitable economic opportunity for all Americans,” U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said. “With RAISE grants, we are making those needed investments in our communities’ future.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the RAISE program, providing $1 billion in FY 2021 discretionary grant funding for rail, transit, road and port infrastructure projects.

The application deadline is July 12 at 5 p.m. EDT. (Download the NOFO below.)

RAISE (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity), was previously known as the BUILD (Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development) and TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) discretionary grant programs, through which more than $8.9 billion to projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico since 2009 have been awarded. Among the 2020 BUILD grantees were the California Department of Transportation’s Stockton Diamond Grade Separation project ($20 million) and the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s railcar fleet replacement project ($15 million).

Projects for RAISE funding “will be evaluated based on merit criteria that include safety, environmental sustainability, quality of life, economic competitiveness, state of good repair, innovation and partnership,” according to the USDOT. “Within these criteria, the Department will prioritize projects that can demonstrate improvements to racial equity, reduce impacts of climate change and create good-paying jobs.”

The maximum grant award is $25 million, and no more than $100 million can be awarded to a single state, as specified in the appropriations act. Up to $30 million will be awarded to planning grants, including at least $10 million to “Areas of Persistent Poverty.” USDOT said it will award “an equitable amount, not to exceed half of funding, to projects located in urban and rural areas respectively.”

The program is one of the few DOT discretionary programs for which regional and local governments can directly compete for multimodal transportation funding, according to the USDOT, which will be hosting a series of webinars to provide technical assistance to prospective applicants. For more information, visit the USDOT website.

“In communities across the country, there is tremendous need for transportation projects that create high-quality jobs, improve safety, protect our environment and generate equitable economic opportunity for all Americans,” U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said. “With RAISE grants, we are making those needed investments in our communities’ future.”

Download the NOFO:

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