- USDOT redirected $1.73 billion in BUILD grants toward roads, bridges, and ports.
- Administration says no funding will go toward bike lane projects this round.
- Move reverses priorities established under the Biden administration’s RAISE program.
The U.S. Department of Transportation just announced $1.73 billion in grants for transportation projects across the country. Of course, to fund the program, it’s shifting funding away from what the administration calls “DEI bike lanes,” referring to Biden-era programs that included equity goals, and toward things like roads, bridges, and other infrastructure. The changes mark one of the clearest examples yet of how the administration intends to reshape federal transportation spending.
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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said approximately 77 percent of the funding, about $1.3 billion, will support road and bridge projects along what the department describes as critical transportation corridors. Another seven percent will be directed toward maritime infrastructure, compared with roughly two percent under the previous administration, according to the Department of Transportation.
Where The Money Goes
According to the Department of Transportation, no funding from this round of BUILD grants will be used for bicycle lane projects. The department said roughly 20 percent of comparable funding under the Biden administration supported pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. This comes at a time when studies suggest that cyclists face perhaps the greatest danger of all road users.
“America is fortunate to have a builder in the White House who knows America is only as great as our infrastructure,” Duffy said in a statement to the Daily Wire. “That’s why this Department is investing in repairing critical roads and bridges that connect Americans to job opportunities, port infrastructure that bolsters our national security, and aviation and transit projects that move American families.” The secretary said nothing of the countless Americans who leverage cycling infrastructure each day.
The Program Behind The Grants
The BUILD program has existed since 2009 and provides competitive grants to state and local governments for a wide variety of transportation projects. While some awards have funded bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, grants have also supported highway improvements, bridges, transit facilities, ports, rail projects and freight corridors.
The Department of Transportation has not indicated whether future BUILD funding rounds will continue excluding bicycle infrastructure, but the latest awards underscore the administration’s stated focus on traditional transportation infrastructure over all else.
