INFRA Grants

Background
The Department of Transportation is combining three major discretionary grant programs and two fiscal years of funding into one Multimodal Projects Discretionary Grant (MPDG) opportunity to reduce the burden for state and local applicants and increase the pipeline of 'shovel-worthy' projects that are now possible because of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) program is a competitive program. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides approximately $8 billion for INFRA over 5 years, of which approximately $2.7 billion will be made available through this NOFO.

Grant Details
The MPDG opportunity contains three grant programs: the 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 (Rural). The funding opportunities are awarded on a competitive basis for surface transportation infrastructure projects – including highway and bridge, intercity passenger rail, railway-highway grade crossing or separation, wildlife crossing, public transportation, marine highway, and freight projects, or groups of such projects – with significant national or regional impact, or to improve and expand the surface transportation infrastructure in rural areas. Applications will be evaluated on six outcome criteria: safety; state of good repair; economic impacts, freight movement, and job creation; climate change, resilience, and the environment; equity, multimodal options, and quality of life; and innovation areas: technology, project delivery, and financing.

Eligibility Requirements
Eligible applicants include a State or a group of States; a metropolitan planning organization or a regional transportation planning organization; a unit of local government; a political subdivision of a State; a special purpose district or public authority with a transportation function, including a port authority; a Tribal government or a consortium of Tribal governments; Federal land management agency that applies jointly with a State or group of States; a partnership between Amtrak and 1 or more entities described above; or a group of entities described above. Eligible project types include highway or bridge projects on the National Multimodal Freight Network, National Highway Freight Network, or National Highway System; freight intermodal (including public ports) or freight rail projects that provide public benefit; railway highway grade separation or elimination projects; highway safety improvement projects; intercity passenger rail projects; public transportation projects eligible under assistance under Chapter 53 of title 49 and is part of any project type described above; wildlife crossing projects; surface transportation projects within international border crossings that improve facilities owned by Fed/State/local government and increase throughput efficiency; marine highway corridor projects functionally connected to the NHFN likely to reduce road mobile source emissions.

Period of Performance
The period of performance for this grant opportunity is from FY 2025 through FY2026.

Grant Value
It is anticipated that this opportunity will award approximately $5.1 billion for this round from FY 2025 and FY2026 funding. INFRA: $2.7 billion Mega: $1.7 billion Rural: $780 million