Announcements – Resources – Funding Opportunities
On February 28, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced $185 million in grant awards for 45 projects through the new Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, a first-of-its-kind initiative to reconnect communities that are cut off from opportunity and burdened by past transportation infrastructure decisions. View all of the selected projects and learn more about the impact of this program through its interactive Storymap.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Buttigieg announced up to $435 million in grant awards for 34 University Transportation Centers (UTCs). UTCs advance transportation expertise and technology in the varied disciplines that comprise the field of transportation through education, research, and technology transfer activities. Overall, a record number of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Minority Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges and Universities are participating this year. This interactive map depicts all of the UTCs.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) published a Request for Information (RFI) regarding its new Equitable Transportation Community Explorer (ETCE) tool and index methodology. USDOT will use responses to this RFI to consider potential updates to tool which, once updated, will supersede the current Transportation Disadvantaged Census Tracts (Historically Disadvantaged Communities) tool. Comments on the RFI are due on March 18.
USDOT is now accepting proposals for funding from its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The SBIR Program awards contracts to small businesses across the country to spur research and commercialization of innovative transportation technologies in select research areas. The current SBIR solicitation provides funding ranging from $150,000 to $200,000 for ten Phase I research topics. The research topics selected for this year’s SBIR Solicitation address a variety of needs regarding advanced materials and structures; behavioral safety; and the safe transport of materials. A full list of past years’ awardees is available here. The recording from a pre-offer webinar for small business concerns (SBCs) interested in applying to the USDOT SBIR Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 solicitation that took place on February 9, 2023 is available here. More program information can be found on the USDOT SBIR website.
USDOT is currently reviewing applications and Letters of Interest submitted for its Thriving Communities Program and anticipates making announcements later this spring.
Resources Spotlight
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) developed a second version of the Screening Tool for Equity Analysis of Projects (STEAP), an extension of the HEPGIS web application allowing for rapid screening of potential project locations in the U.S. to support Title VI, environment justice, and other socioeconomic data analyses. The STEAP V2 tool enables users to estimate the socioeconomic characteristics of the resident population surrounding a proposed project location and generates an equity analysis report that may also be useful in grant applications. It is not a replacement to identify transportation disadvantaged Census tracts for USDOT programs. A resource is available to help navigate the STEAP tool. In addition to STEAP, HEPGIS contains over 70 Equity Maps.
FHWA’s Planning and Equity Tool enables transportation agency users to view their transportation improvement program (TIP) projects with available national, equity-related data sets. The tool is primarily targeted towards users from transportation agencies with little to no geographic information system (GIS) capabilities or resources.
The National Rural Technical Assistance Program maintains the Transportation Technical Assistance Coordination Library (TACL) enabling access to resources across the Federal Transit Administration (FTA)-supported transportation technical assistance centers with a focus on accessibility, applied transit technology, transit workforce, shared use mobility, and rural transit. TACL resources are available at no cost and can be used to identify high quality technical assistance on transportation coordination.
Upcoming USDOT Funding Opportunities
The list below highlights only some of USDOT’s current funding opportunities. For a full list of open and upcoming USDOT Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs), visit the Key Notices of Funding Opportunity webpage.
* Applications for the Tribal Transportation Program Safety Fund are due by March 9, 2023. Eligible applicants are federally recognized Indian Tribes, which may partner with other organizations in submitting an application.
* Applications for the Areas of Persistent Poverty Program are due by March 10, 2023. Eligible entities, Recipients or Subrecipients under 49 U.S.C. 5307, 49 U.S.C. 5310, or 49 U.S.C. 5311 located in Areas of Persistent Poverty or Historically Disadvantaged Communities may apply. State DOTs may also apply on behalf of eligible entities within their states.
* Applications for the Buses and Bus Facilities Program are due on April 13, 2023. Eligible applicants are designated recipients that allocate funds to fixed-route bus operators, States (including territories and Washington D.C.) or local governmental entities that operate fixed route bus service, and Indian tribes.
* Applications for the Low or No Emission Vehicle Program are due April 13, 2023. Eligible applicants are designated recipients of FTA grants, including states, local governmental authorities, and Indian Tribes.