U.S. DOT announces $1.5 billion through RAISE grant program

There has been $1.5 billion made available for communities across the nation through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity discretionary grant program for 2023, said a U.S. Department of Transportation news release.

The RAISE program allows communities around the country to complete projects with “significant local or regional impact,” the Department of Transportation said. Eligibility requirements allow project sponsors to obtain funding for projects that are hard to support through other U.S. DOT grant programs.

Among the projects funded through RAISE grants in 2022 are bridges in Tucson, Ariz., and Lafourche Parish, La., and new berth construction at Port Tampa Bay, and a snowmelt system in Berlin, N.H.

“The historic investments the Biden-Harris administration is announcing today will help communities across the country modernize their transportation,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, said in a statement. “After decades of underinvestment in America’s infrastructure, we are supporting projects that help people and goods get where they need to go more safely, efficiently, and affordably.”

In all, RAISE funded a total of 166 projects across all 50 states; Washington, D.C.; Puerto Rico; the Northern Mariana Islands; and U.S. Virgin Islands in 2022.

Funding will be split between rural and urban areas. At least $15 million will go toward projects in areas of persistent poverty or historically disadvantaged communities. Projects in those areas will be eligible for up to 100% federal cost share, as stated by the infrastructure law.

The U.S. DOT “intends to use the RAISE program to support wealth creation and the creation of good-paying jobs with the free and fair choice to join a union, the incorporation of strong labor standards and training and placement programs, especially registered apprenticeships,” said the news release.

The deadline for applications is Feb. 28. Selections will be announced no later than June 28. LL

More Land Line news coverage.