The U.S. Department of Transportation has announced US$ 856 million in proposed grants through the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) discretionary grant program. The program provides dedicated, discretionary funding for projects that address critical issues facing the country´s highways and bridges.

INFRA discretionary grants support the Administration’s commitment to fixing nation’s infrastructure by creating opportunities for all levels of government and the private sector to fund infrastructure, using innovative approaches to improve the processes for building significant projects and increasing accountability for the projects that are built. In addition to providing direct federal funding, the INFRA discretionary grant program aims to increase the total investment by the state, local, and private partners.

INFRA advances a grant program established in the 2015 Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act and utilizes updated criteria for evaluating projects to align them with national and regional economic vitality goals.  The program increases the impact of projects by leveraging federal grant funding and incentivizing project sponsors to pursue innovative strategies, including public-private partnerships.

Additionally, the new program promotes the incorporation of innovative technology that will improve USA transportation system. 

The Department of Transportation is proposing awards under the INFRA discretionary grant program to both large and small projects.  For a large project, the INFRA grant must be at least US$ 25 million. For a small project, the grant must be at least US$ 5 million. For each fiscal year of INFRA funds, 10 percent of available funds are reserved for small projects. The INFRA discretionary grant program also preserves the statutory requirement in the FAST Act to award at least 25 percent of funding for rural projects.

The list of proposed awards for large projects is the following :

• The Alabama Department of Transportation will be awarded US$ 125 million to construct a new six-lane cable-stayed bridge with more than 215 feet of vertical clearance to carry I-10 across the Mobile River channel. 
• The Arizona Department of Transportation will be awarded US$ 90 million to add capacity on a rural, mountainous stretch of I-17 north of Phoenix.
• The City of Temecula, CA, will be awarded US$ 50 million to construct a two-lane northbound collector/distributor system along I-15.
  Space Florida will be awarded US$ 90 million to replace the Cape Canaveral Spaceport Indian River Bridge with new twin high-level bridges, to allow transportation of oversized vehicles to launch sites.
• The Maryland Department of Transportation will be awarded US$ 125 million to raise the vertical clearance of the Howard Street Tunnel, Baltimore, to facilitate movement of double-stack trains on an important freight rail corridor.
• Maine DOT will be awarded US$ 36 million in grant funding to replace the Madawaska International Bridge, a US-Canada border crossing bridge over the Saint John River.
• Missouri DOT will be awarded US$ 81.2 million in INFRA funds to complete two critical upgrades along I-70. 
• The Mississippi Department of Transportation will be awarded US$ 52.4 million to complete the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS) in Mississippi.
• The Oregon Department of Transportation will be awarded US$ 60.4 million to make a series of improvements to roadways on the north side of Bend, Oregon. 
• The Rhode Island Department of Transportation will be awarded US$ 60.355 million to rebuild the Providence Interstate 95 Northbound Viaduct.

Remaining INFRA grant will be used for small projects throughout the country. The works include University repair work in Alabama, railroad rehabilitation in California, Marine terminal works in Florida, rehabilitation of riverbank infrastructure in Ohio, bridge replacement in South Dakota, bridge building in Texas among other projects.