The U.S. Dept. of Transportation (DOT) has opened the application process for three discretionary infrastructure grant programs which have a combined $2.9 billion to award this fiscal year.
DOT于3月23日发布了funding availability noticefor two grant programs created in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and for one seven-year-old program that received sharply increased funding for 2022, thanks to the IIJA.
两种新类型的赠款中，较大的赠款来自国家基础设施项目援助计划，该计划将其称为“ Mega”赠款。
Speaking at a March 23 press conference in Washington, D.C., with White House infrastructure implementation director Mitch Landrieu, DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the Mega grants will provide about $1 billion this year for “major projects of national or regional significance.”
他还指出，这些项目“对于其他资金流来说通常太大新利18备用网址或复杂”。
[查看简报的YouTube视频here.]
大型项目也新利18备用网址可能涉及多个州或多种运输方式。例子可能包括桥梁或隧道，每个桥梁或隧道将两个状态或涉及铁路，港口和公路元素的项目链接。新利18备用网址
Buttigieg said the Mega funding can be used to “build the cathedrals of our transportation infrastructure in this country—whether it’s existing infrastructure that needs major modernization or new projects that are going to make a difference for a whole region.”
在巨型可用的10亿美元中，有一半的项目价值超过5亿美元，一半的项目将超过1亿美元，但不到5亿美元。新利18备用网址DOT将资助项目总成本的80％。
The second new program is for rural surface transportation grants, funded at $300 million for 2022.
The pre-IIJA program covered by the new announcement is the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grants, launched in the 2015 Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act.
该计划主要集中在公路和货运相关的项目上。新利18备用网址它的2022年将有约16.4亿美元，比2021年的水平增长了约50％。
Speaking at a briefing site that had the Potomac River and Arlington Memorial Bridge as a backdrop, Buttigieg noted that the bridge received a grant in 2016 under the INFRA program. At the time the program was named FASTLANE, for Fostering Advancements in Shipping and Transportation for the Long-term Achievement of National Efficiencies.
AASHTO's Comments
Susan Howard, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials director of policy and government relations, said in an interview that state officials generally prefer most federal highway and transit funding to be distributed by formulas. She added, "But there's a place for discretionary grant programs in that mix."
State DOTs have experience in applying for U.S. DOT discretionary grants programs, one of which goes back more than a decade. But Howard noted that AASHTO's biggest concern with the IIJA discretionary programs is their "sheer volume." An AASHTO概括of the infrastructure act lists seven new discretionary grant programs for the Federal Highway Administration alone.
这不包括大型计划，该计划属于DOT秘书办公室的权限。
霍华德说：“我认为各州将要查看整个菜单，并弄清楚什么值得申请，与我们知道的需求相匹配以及我们想从哪里来处理它。”
公共应用
为了使各州，城市，地方和其他实体的寻求赠款过程更容易，DOT允许他们使用单个表格申请三个赠款类别中的一个或多个。
Buttigieg compared the new DOT form to the "common application" now used by many U.S. colleges.
霍华德指出，DOT的联邦政府最近发布了一些赠款计划的合并申请。她说，美国的DOT官员“肯定正在努力，在他们可以的地方结合了其中一些赠款计划的申请流程，我认为这将是净肯定的。”
Buttigieg表示应在2022年日历结束时授予这三个计划中的每个程序的申请。
故事更新3/24/2022 AASH评论TO, also include corrections in names of two grant programs.
