Program objective

This Assistance Listing encompasses several transportation programs: 1) Federal-aid Highway Program: The purpose of the Federal-aid Highway Program is to assist the States in providing for construction, preservation, and improvement of highways and bridges on eligible Federal-Aid routes, (including the National Highway System (NHS) - an integrated, interconnected transportation system important to interstate commerce and travel), and for other special purpose programs and projects. This program also provides for the construction and improvement of highways in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands. 2) The Federal Lands Highway Program: The Federal Lands Transportation Program (FLTP) provides assistance to the Federal Land Management Agencies (FLMAs) for Federally-owned roads and trails. It provides transportation engineering services and funding for planning, design, construction, and rehabilitation of the highways and bridges that are on or provide access to federally owned lands. The Federal Lands Highway organization also provides training, technology deployment, and engineering services to other customers. 3) The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs (IIJA) Act also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is a once-in-a-generation investment in our infrastructure that will help grow the economy, enhance U.S. competitiveness, create good jobs, and build our safe, resilient, and equitable transportation future. BIL provides the basis for FHWA programs and activities through September 30, 2026. It makes an investment of $350 billion in highway programs. This includes the largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the Interstate Highway System. New programs under the BIL focus on key infrastructure priorities including rehabilitating bridges in critical need of repair, reducing carbon emissions, increasing system resilience, removing barriers to connecting communities, and improving mobility and access to economic opportunity. Many of the new programs include eligibility for local governments, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), Tribes, and other public authorities, allowing them to compete directly for funding. BIL also continues to focus the program on safety and performance-based investment and on accelerating project delivery through expedited environmental review and elimination of duplicate processes. 4) The Highway Infrastructure Programs in the Department of Transportation Appropriations Act, 2018, included two new discretionary programs: Competitive Bridge Program and Nationally Significant Federal Lands and Tribal Projects Program. The Competitive Bridge Program was appropriated $225 million to be used for highway bridge rehabilitation or replacement projects for States that have a population density of less than 100 individuals per square mile and that demonstrate cost savings by bundling multiple highway bridge projects.