The Federal Highway Administration has selected 28 projects to split a total of $26.5 million in planning grants that the agency hopes will produce the next wave of bridge construction projects in the United States.
The grants, which the FHWA announced on August 7, come from the Bridge Investment Program category of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
In all, state and local agencies in 18 states were winners of the new batch of planning grants, the second round since the IIJA was enacted in 2021.
Largest scholarships: Minn., Houston, Alaska
The largest single award from the latest group of planning grant winners is about $2.3 million to the Minnesota Department of Transportation for a strategic asset management plan for seven bridges “high priority” on the state’s trunk highway system.
The second largest grant is $2 million to the city of Houston to determine preferred alternatives to rehabilitate nine bridges along Buffalo Bayou in the city.
Another major award is just under $2 million to the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities for planning and environmental studies of four bridges along the state’s Dalton Highway and drainage corridor of the Koyukuk River.
under the program, grants go to projects in their early stages and can be used for planning, feasibility analysis and revenue forecasting. Grants are much more modest than other FHWA bridge categories under the IIJA
Formation of a portfolio of projects
FHWA Administrator Shailen Bhatt said in an interview with ENR, “Everybody loves it when we combine a couple of years of funding and get a $5 billion construction grant.”
Bhatt says, “But what’s critical, and why these grants are so critical, is establishing that pipeline of construction-ready projects, moving through the environmental process and making sure those projects are construction-ready.”
At this later stage, a project could be eligible for larger construction grants from other bridge investment program categories. For example, FHWA says that in 2022, the Interstate-5 bridge replacement program between Washington and Oregon received a bridge planning award.
Work done under this grant supported an application and subsequent award of a $1.5 million large bridge grant on July 17, as well as a $600 million grant on January 24 of the Mega category of the IIJA.
