DOT floats $5.4 billion for bridges, strikes diversity, climate criteria

Bloomberg News

The Trump administration amended a pair of bridge grant funding programs to strip out climate, diversity and other "woke" requirements that were a key part of the Biden administration's infrastructure vision.

The $5.4 billion in newly available bridge funds comes from bridge grant programs created under Biden administration's 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Under the previous administration, grant applicants had to detail how their infrastructure projects would advance the administration's goals on issues like diversity, climate and environmental justice. Among other criteria, project applicants were required to show the project's impact on greenhouse gas emissions, the creation of union-friendly jobs and hiring of disadvantaged business enterprises.

The Trump administration has dropped all those criteria in its move to shape transportation funding to its own priorities.

"The previous administration handcuffed critical infrastructure funding requirements to woke DEI and Green New Scam initiatives that diverted resources from the department's core mission," U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. 

The updated NOFOs apply to the Bridge Investment Program, one of the IIJA's largest programs that totals $12.5 billion over five years, and the Competitive Highway Bridge Program which targets spans in rural areas.

The funding comes as the administration works through what Duffy said is a massive backlog of infrastructure projects that were announced by the Biden administration but still lack the grant funding agreements required to advance the work.

Cities, states and others have until Aug. 1 to apply for the bridge funds. Applicants that are already under consideration will be notified of the changes, the administration said in the notice.

Duffy in April announced that states and cities may lose their transportation grants if they don't comply with federal immigration and anti-diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

In early February, the day after taking office, Duffy issued an order that ties transportation funds to projects located in areas that have high birth rates, among other requirements. The memo appeared to address only discretionary grant funding, and not formula funds, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials said at the time.

The bulk of the newly available bridge dollars, just under $5 billion, will go toward bridge projects that cost more than $100 million. The remaining $500 million will go toward for repairing or replacing bridges in rural areas.

The IIJA provided $27.5 billion to the states in formula funding for bridges in addition to the competitive grant programs. But that remains far short of total bridge-related rehab needs, which the American Society of Civil Engineers pegs at $191 billion across the country.

In its latest infrastructure report card, the ASCE gave bridges a C grade. There are more than 623,000 spans across the country, of which 49% are in "fair" condition, 44% are in "good" condition, and 6.8% are in "poor" condition, the group said in the report card.