This year, the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program funds more than $2.2 billion for projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and two territories_
Last week, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced that the Biden-Harris Administration has awarded $30,465,480 from the RAISE discretionary grant program to four different infrastructure projects
across Ohio.
The RAISE grant program, expanded under the president’s infrastructure law, supports communities of all sizes, with half of the FY2023 funding going to rural areas and the other half to urban areas. The grants are part
of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda that is growing the American economy from the bottom up and middle-out—from rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, to driving over $470 billion in private sector
manufacturing and clean energy investments in the United States, to creating good-paying jobs and building a clean-energy economy that will combat climate change and make our communities more resilient.
“Using the funds in President Biden’s infrastructure law, we are helping communities in every state across the country realize their visions for new infrastructure projects,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “This round of RAISE grants is helping create a new generation of good-paying jobs in rural and urban communities alike, with projects whose benefits will include improving safety, fighting climate change, advancing equity, strengthening our supply chain, and more.”
This year’s awarded projects will help more people get where they need to be quickly, affordably, and safely. From projects that will strengthen supply chains and reduce bottlenecks, to bridge replacements and road projects to make them safer and more efficient for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians, this year’s awards will build and repair infrastructure that benefits Americans for future generations to come, while taking steps to reduce emissions from the transportation sector and support wealth creation and good-paying union jobs. Seventy percent of the grants are going to projects in regions defined as an Area of Persistent Poverty or a Historically Disadvantaged Community.
Like last year, demand for RAISE funding was higher than available funds. This year, DOT received $15 billion in requests for the $2.26 billion available.
Awardees in Ohio include:
$2,275,000 for the Cincinnati Westwood Northern Boulevard Corridor Plan project. Funds for this project will be used to study and develop conceptual design alternatives for safety improvements to the Westwood Northern Boulevard Corridor. The project aims to protect non-motorized travelers and communities from safety risks by reducing fatalities and serious injuries to bring them below the state-wide average. Through infrastructure redesign and incorporation of pedestrian and bicycle accommodations, the project expects to reduce exposure to air and noise pollution and improve system-wide connectivity providing access to daily destinations.
$5,250,000 for the East Main Street Corridor Improvements project. Funds for this project will be used to reconstruct East Main Street from a five-lane road into a four-lane road that includes a landscaped center median, sidewalks, a multi-use trail, two roundabouts, and bus pullouts. The project will improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists by adding a buffered multi-use path, improved lighting, high-visibility mid-block crosswalks, and pedestrian refuge islands. The project will also implement traffic calming measures and improve traffic flow. The addition of a separated path for pedestrians and improved transit options combine to provide better access to jobs, shopping, medical facilities, and Kent State University.
$20,000,000 for the Connecting Toledo Neighborhoods to Opportunity project. Funds for this project will be used to help make infrastructure improvements that benefit Toledo’s residents and visitors by adding a protected sidewalk to the Dorr Street overpass of Interstate 75, as well as add a new 10-foot multi-use path that will extend nearly a mile into the Junction neighborhood. It will also make approximately 4.4 miles of enhancements including ADA-compliant sidewalks, on-street protected bike lanes, LED lighting, trees and landscaping, seating, bike shelters, and a public transit mobility hub. The project will create user-friendly active transportation access to jobs, retail, healthcare, and area resources.
$2,940,480 for the Leveraging Infrastructure for Transportation (LIFT) project. Funds for this project will be used to complete engineering and final design for the reconstruction of WRTA’s Federal Station transit hub into a mixed-use transit-oriented facility that includes a sheltered passenger terminal, parking garage, electric vehicle charging stations, and amenities. The redesign of the station will provide a gateway into downtown Youngstown and improve safety by reducing conflict points between pedestrians and buses by separating rider boarding areas from the pathways bus use to enter and exit the facility. The inclusion of an electric bus charging station will facilitate the transition to using zero emissions buses.
RAISE discretionary grants help project sponsors at the State and local levels, including municipalities, Tribal governments, counties, and others complete critical freight and passenger transportation infrastructure projects that they may not have had the funding to carry out prior to passage of President Biden’s infrastructure law. The eligibility requirements of RAISE allow project sponsors to obtain funding for projects that are harder to support through other U.S. DOT grant programs.
The RAISE program is one of several ways communities can secure funding for projects under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s competitive grant programs. This week, the Federal Transit Administration announced nearly $1.7 billion in funding through the agency’s, which puts more zero-emission and low-emission buses on the road while supporting workforce training on new vehicle technologies.
The Department also published the 2023 Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant (MPDG) Program [3]: a three-in-one grant opportunity for communities interested in funding made
available through the National Infrastructure Project Assistance (Mega) discretionary grant program, the Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program (Rural), and the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) program.
For more information on the RAISE program: https://www.transportation.gov/RAISEgrants