USDOT: $1 billion in 'RAISE' funding available for infrastructure projects

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) yesterday published a notice of funding opportunity from $1 billion in fiscal-year 2021 discretionary grant funding through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program.

The RAISE program was formerly known as the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) transportation grant program, which was created in 2018 to replace the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program. The program has awarded more than $8.9 billion in grants to projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico since 2009, USDOT officials said in a press release.

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. Within these criteria, USDOT will prioritize projects that can demonstrate improvements to racial equity, reduce impacts of climate change and create good-paying jobs.

For this round of RAISE grants, the maximum grant award is $25 million, and no more than $100 million will be awarded to a single state. Up to $30 million will be awarded to planning grants. USDOT will award an equitable amount, not to exceed half of funding, to projects located in urban and rural areas respectively.

"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,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “With RAISE grants, we are making those needed investments in our communities' future."