DOT Awards $529.7M From IIJA
ARTBA figures show the infrastructure act has had a huge impact.
Graphic by ENR Art Dept.
As the five-year rollout of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passes its halfway mark, funds continue to flow to nonfederal agencies, including the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s late May announcement of two sets of grants, totaling $529.7 million, from IIJA-created programs.
The larger of the two batches of grants is $343 million announced on May 28 by DOT’s Federal Transit Administration to make rail transit systems in eight states more accessible. It is the latest round in the IIJA’s All Stations Accessibility Program (ASAP).
By far the largest of the new ASAP awards is $156.5 million to the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority to install new elevators, update platforms, repair stairways and make other improvements at five subway system stations in the Bronx and upper Manhattan.
The New Jersey Transit Corp. got the second-largest grant at $83.3 million, for upgrades to the century-old Brick Church station on the Morris and Essex commuter rail line. Work will include adding accessible platforms, elevators and renovating a pedestrian tunnel and stairways.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will receive $67.6-million to help fund platforms at 14 stops on the Green Line’s light rail B and C branches. The project includes installing accessible platforms.
Also on the list is the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, which receives $16 million for improvements to eight stations, making the entire Blue Line accessible, according to FTA.
ASAP money was in great demand, as with other competitively awarded IIJA transportation grant programs. FTA said it received about $1.1 billion in requests for the $343 million available. Under the IIJA, federal funds can be no more than 80% of an ASAP project’s total cost.
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The $1.2-trillion infrastructure law provides $1.75 billion over five years for ASAP. FTA noted that a lack of accessibility is a major problem for riders on legacy rail transit systems—those with facilities that predate the 1990 enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The agency said that more than 900 legacy transit stations are not yet fully accessible.
The other recent awards, announced May 31, are $186.7 million in Federal Aviation Administration grants going to 91 airports in 34 states. Funds will go mostly for runways, terminals, hangars and other infrastructure, but some will go for noninfrastructure purposes, such as updating master plans and acquiring snow removal and navigation equipment.
The largest FAA grant, totaling $61.8 million, was awarded to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Michigan. The funds will go to rehabilitate an on-airport roadway for aircraft firefighting trucks and other vehicles, FAA said.
The second-largest award, $23.5 million, went to San Diego International Airport to help finance a new 1.2-million-sq-ft terminal that will have 30 gates.
Other recipients include Pittsburgh International Airport, which got two grants totaling $20.5 million to rebuild its existing terminal; and Kodiak Airport in Alaska, which is getting $19.7 million to reconstruct a taxiway’s pavement.
In all, the IIJA provides $25 billion over five years for airport grants. That includes $14.5 billion for the Airport Infrastructure Grant Program, which the infrastructure law established. That program is the source of the new round of FAA grants.
