The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration opened a call for applications through a Notice of Funding Opportunity for the competitive Bridge Investment Program established by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The program will provide $12.5 billion over five years, with nearly $2.4 billion available in Fiscal Year 2022 to help plan, replace, rehabilitate, protect, and preserve some of the nation’s largest bridges. This competitive grant program comes on top of more than $27 billion in formula bridge funding the U.S. Department of Transportation announced earlier this year. The investment will help ensure that some of the nation’s bridges remain operational, support local economies, strengthen our supply chains, improve safety, and create good-paying jobs across the U.S.

“With resources from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we’re thrilled to begin accepting applications for one of the most significant investments in our bridges in decades, fixing everything from America’s most economically significant bridges to smaller bridges that mean everything to a local community,” said Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Transportation secretary. “When these bridges are repaired, the American people will benefit from greater safety, lower shipping costs for consumers and maintenance costs for drivers, faster movement of goods across our supply chains, fuel savings, and precious time being returned to their day.”

The Bridge Investment Program is a program that focuses on the repair, rehabilitation, or replacement of existing bridges across the U.S. to reduce the overall number of those bridges either in poor condition, or in fair condition at risk of declining into poor condition. It also expands applicant eligibilities to create opportunity for all levels of government to be direct recipients of program funds. In addition to states and federal lands management agencies, metropolitan planning organizations and local and tribal governments can also apply directly to FHWA, making it easier to advance bridge projects at the local level.

The Bridge Investment Program provides an additional $12.5 billion in funding to the more than $27 billion provided to states by the Bridge Formula Program announced earlier this year.

“These funds will make a significant contribution to improving the condition of our nation’s aging bridges, both large, signature bridge projects that are important for our national economy as well as smaller structures that provide benefits at the regional and local levels and are critical for communities across the country,” said Stephanie Pollack, deputy federal highway administrator. “FHWA has designed this program to meet the needs of communities and bridges of all sizes, including those that are still in the planning stage.”

The Bridge Investment Program funding:

• Allows multi-year grant agreements to fund large projects by making it possible to take a project through pre-construction activities and into construction.

• Offers grants that help fund the planning process, including planning, feasibility analysis and revenue forecasting associated with the development of a project that would subsequently be eligible to apply for the Bridge Investment Program.

• Offers two types of construction grants, covering “large” projects over $100 million and “bridge projects” at up to $100 million.

The FHWA plans to conduct community outreach and public engagement throughout the application process that will include a Zoom Webinar.