Highway Infrastructure
FHWA Allocates $61B in IIJA Formula Highway, Bridge Funds
In one of the largest Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding announcements to date, the Federal Highway Administration has apportioned to states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico their shares of $61 billion in highway and bridge funding to be divided by formula.
The apportionments, contained in FHWA memos dated Oct. 2 and announced on Oct. 5, include several programs. The largest is $54.6 billion for the federal-aid highway program. The allocations are for fiscal year 2024, which began on Oct. 1. The five-year IIJA marks the end of its second calendar year on the books on Nov. 15.
Top Five States: Federal-Aid Highway Funds
Regarding the highway funding distributions, Texas receives the biggest federal-aid highway program share, with $5.38 billion, followed by California, with $5.06 billion.
Florida ranks third, with $2.61 billion; New York is fourth, with $2.31 billion; and Pennsylvania is fifth, with $2.26 billion
The $54.6-billion total for federal-aid highways encompasses nine categories, the largest of which is he National Highway Performance Program, with $29.6 billion.
Other components of the $61 billion are: bridge formula funding, with $5.3 billion; the National Electric Vehicle infrastructure Formula program, with $885 million; and the Appalachian Development Highway System program, with $246 million.
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Top Five States: Bridge Funding
California tops the state recipients of formula bridge funds, with $574.8 million; New York is second, with $409 million; and Pennsylvania ranks third, with $353.4 million. Illinois is fourth, with $297.3 million; and New Jersey is fifth, with $246.1 million.
FHWA Administrator Shailen Bhatt said in a statement, "These historic investments in. American infrastructure give states the flexibility they need to determine how to allocate funds for a range of transportation projects, such as improving safety for all road users, replacing aging bridges and reducing carbon emissions."
State departments of transportation have long viewed the formula highway funding as core elements of the federal-aid highway program.
Because the dollars are distributed according to formulas, states know early in an annual cycle how much they are likely to receive in a given year. That allows them to formulate their annual construction plans.
The formula funding numbers were not surprises to states; FHWA has produced annual IIJA highway and bridge funding tables to give states a strong idea of how much they are likely to receive.
Story corrected on 10/6/2023 to include the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico as recipients of the FHWA funding.
