The Biden-Harris administration announced $27.2 million in funding for three projects in Alabama to modernize transportation and make it more affordable, increase safety, and strengthen supply chains

President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law more than doubles the funding for popular RAISE Program this year

Thursday, Aug. 11, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced that the Biden-Harris Administration has awarded $27.2 million to support three projects in Alabama from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program to help move forward on projects that modernize roads, bridges, transit, rail, ports, and intermodal transportation and make our transportation systems safer, more accessible, more affordable, and more sustainable. This year’s total allocations nationwide include more than $2.2 billion thanks to the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides an additional $7.5 billion over five years for the program to help meet the strong demand to help projects get moving across the country.

“We are proud to support so many outstanding infrastructure projects in communities large and small, modernizing America’s transportation systems to make them safer, more affordable, more accessible, and more sustainable,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “Using funds from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this year we are supporting more projects than ever before.”

Projects were evaluated on several criteria, including safety, environmental sustainability, quality of life, economic competitiveness and opportunity, partnership and collaboration, innovation, state of good repair, and mobility and community connectivity. Within these areas, the Department considered how projects will improve accessibility for all travelers, bolster supply chain efficiency, and support racial equity and economic growth – especially in historically disadvantaged communities and areas of persistent poverty.

In Alabama, the following projects will benefit from RAISE awards:

Cordova Road Improvements

The city of Cordova will receive $5.2 million to make improvements on more than 30 miles of deteriorating roadways throughout Cordova, Ala. It will fund road repairs throughout Cordova that were impacted by two destructive tornadoes in 2011. The town is also trying to develop tourism to advance economic growth and job creation. This project will facilitate emergency response, travel reliability, and access to employment opportunities for residents of a disadvantaged community.

Pedestrian Access and Redevelopment Corridor

The city of Huntsville will receive $20 million to design and construct multimodal improvements for bicyclists and pedestrians on approximately 1.2 miles of the Pedestrian Access and Redevelopment Corridor (PARC) linking downtown Huntsville to neighborhoods that are physically isolated by US 231/431, Governors Drive, and the Pinhook Creek. This includes a cable-suspended pedestrian bridge over US 431/US 231 and Governors Drive, three pedestrian bridges over Pinhook Creek and Huntsville Spring Branch, replacement of a railroad bridge, and flood mitigation measures. The project will address physical barriers for disadvantaged neighborhoods caused by highways and the creek, and will provide more transportation options to employment opportunities, while reducing emissions and improving safety. Environmental justice and racial equity are a focus of this project, and communities have been engaged in the design process. The project also replaces the timber rail bridge to improve the movement of goods, address flood mitigation, and provide better access to employment. The flood mitigation components address current vulnerabilities, prevent future transportation interruption, and support the city’s emergency management goals.

Shoals Area Railroad Overpass in Colbert County

The Northwest Alabama Council of Local Governments will receive $2 million for this planning project to produce the corridor study and design for the at-grade crossing at the Norfolk Southern Railroad near Montgomery Avenue in Sheffield. The current at-grade crossing causes collisions, delays for emergency responders, challenges to active transportation, and barriers to freight movement, all of which will be improved with the overpass. The corridor study will also address accessibility to high quality, high paying jobs, such as those at the new local Toyota/Mazda factory.

Today, Secretary Buttigieg is in Tucson and Phoenix where he is visiting two of the projects receiving RAISE awards. Later this month the Secretary and other senior USDOT officials will fan out across the country to visit additional sites that are receiving RAISE awards to highlight the ways that the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is helping invest in communities and get important infrastructure projects moving in communities large and small.

The full list of awards can be found here.

Additional background:

2022 RAISE grants are for planning and capital investments that support roads, bridges, transit, rail, ports, or intermodal transportation.

50 percent of funding is designated for projects in rural areas, and 50 percent of the funding is designated for projects in urban areas.

Nearly two-thirds of projects are located in areas of persistent poverty or historically disadvantaged communities.

The largest grant award is $25 million. Per statute, no more than $341.25 million could be awarded to a single state in this round of funding.

Among this year’s selected projects, 11 included a local hire provision.

Several projects include workforce development aspects including four projects that have project labor agreements, eight projects that have registered apprenticeship programs and an additional eight projects with other workforce development provisions.

The RAISE program is one of several ways communities can secure funding for projects under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s competitive grant programs. Later this year, the Biden-Harris Administration will announce recipients of the first-ever National Infrastructure Project Assistance (MEGA) program, as well as the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) program and the Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program (RURAL).