NACWA Applauds Increased Water Infrastructure Funding in Congress' Omnibus Package
(Washington, DC) – The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) applauds Congress for the significant increases for clean water infrastructure investment that are included in the proposed Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) Omnibus spending package. Specifically: (1) The increase of $600 million for the State Revolving Funds (SRFs) – split equally between the Drinking Water SRF and the Clean Water SRF – represents the most significant new money for these programs in many years, and (2)...
NCDOT Awards 2018 Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning Grants
Raleigh – Nine municipalities and one county from across the state will receive assistance with bicycle and pedestrian planning, thanks to grants awarded this month by the N.C. Department of Transportation. Recipients were selected from a pool of 23 applications by an awards committee comprised of representatives from regional planning organizations and councils of government, local governments, health professionals and NCDOT staff from multiple units. This year’s recipients include: ...
Chao: $1.56B in 2017-18 INFRA Grants Still Months Away, Coming Perhaps in June
U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao told Congress March 6 that the Department of Transportation expects to award $1.56 billion in 2017 and 2018 INFRA grants "hopefully . . . by the beginning of June . . . the beginning of the summer." The department has had the INFRA project applications in hand since it closed the grant requests Nov. 2, but Chao said it had to first handle the separate $500 million in 2017 TIGER grants. Chao told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee...
Officials From State DOTs, Industry Groups Push for Congress to Act on Project Funding
Led by Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner John Schroer and Colorado DOT Executive Director Michael Lewis, a group of industry stakeholders strongly called for Congress and President Trump to come up with enough long-term highway and transit revenue to avert a funding crisis in 2020. The officials made their comments at a March 7 hearing on "Building a 21st Century Infrastructure for America: Long-Term Funding for Highways and Transit Programs," held by the House Transportatio...
Improvements Are Needed To Strengthen the Benefit-Cost Analysis Process for the TIGER Discretionary Grant Program
What We Looked At Since its establishment in 2009, the Office of the Secretary’s (OST) Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program has provided billions of dollars for infrastructure improvements and economic development. As part of the selection process for TIGER awards, OST evaluates each applicant’s project benefit-cost analysis (BCA), which shows the project’s economic benefits. Prior to fiscal year 2016, projects that did not demonstrate net economic benefi...
Observations on Federal Funding Support for Positive Train Control Implementation
On March 1, 2018, the Assistant Inspector General for Surface Transportation Audits testified before the Senate on the implementation of positive train control (PTC), an advanced communication-based technology designed to prevent certain rail accidents caused by human error. Congress requires all eligible rail systems to install PTC by the end of 2018, although that deadline could be extended an additional 2 years. The testimony addressed OIG’s ongoing work in this area, specifically (1) the amo...
SCDOT Launches New Web Link to Track 10-Year Rebuilding Plan Spending and Project List
The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) has taken more steps to allow the public to view a detailed revenue statement and project list that is supported by the Infrastructure Maintenance Trust Fund (IMTF). The information made public today is a further effort to assist South Carolinians in keeping track of the additional gas tax revenues which are deposited in the IMTF. The IMTF funds the 10-Year Plan to Rebuild SC’s Roads. Earlier this month, SCDOT added the IMTF Report on the a...
FRA Takes Applications for $73M in Grants to Rail Capital Projects, Operating Assistance
The Federal Railroad Administration said it is taking applications over the next few months for about $73 million in grant funding under two programs "for projects that can strengthen intercity passenger rail, support capital projects and boost safety initiatives that may include the implementation of positive train control, improved highway-rail grade crossings and congestion mitigation." Congress authorized the grants in the 2015 Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act and funded them l...
EPA Awards Millions in Grants to Ports, Transit Operations, Others to Cut Diesel Emissions
The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded millions of dollars in grants this month to ports, transit operators and other agencies across the country to help remove old diesel engines from heavy trucks, buses, ferries and other transportation equipment to replace them with cleaner-burning, newer models. The awards included more than $2.6 million to reduce emissions from cargo trucks and ferries in the New York City area, most of that going to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey...
State DOTs Urge Congress to Move Project Funding Via Highway, Transit Formulas
The organization representing all state departments of transportation has called on Congress to route new infrastructure appropriations through existing formula-based federal highway and transit programs, and warned against allocating it through discretionary grants. Using the formula funding systems in the Highway Trust Fund would be "a predictable, equitable, and nationwide distribution of federal dollars" and benefit "urban and rural areas alike," the American Association of State Highway...
Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
Santa Barbara County North Branch Jail Expansion
February Issue 2026
