Filing Date:

Varies—contact your local U.S. DOT official to learn more.

Eligibility:

State, local, tribal and U.S. territories’ governments, including transit agencies, port authorities, metropolitan planning organizations and other political subdivisions of state or local governments.

Description:

In 2021, the RAISE Discretionary Grants program replaced the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) Program, which had in turn replaced the Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Program. RAISE, like BUILD and TIGER, is focused on surface transportation infrastructure investments that make a positive impact throughout the country.

RAISE prioritizes investments in national infrastructure projects that result in good-paying jobs, improve safety, apply transformative technology and explicitly address climate change and racial equity.

Funds may be requested for capital projects that include, but are not limited to: passenger and freight rail transportation projects; public transportation projects; intermodal projects; highway, bridge, or other road projects; and port infrastructure investments. Funds also may be requested for planning projects related to the planning, preparation or design of eligible surface transportation capital projects.

For example, the city of Niagara Falls, N.Y., received $16.5 million in TIGER II Discretionary Grants to complete the third and final phase of its international railway station. This phase relocated Amtrak’s passenger terminal from a site outside the city center to a downtown location. The passenger rail terminal accommodates multimodal operations (bus/taxi/park and ride, etc.). The project also improved freight and passenger rail efficiency by eliminating conflict points and addressing passenger safety concerns such as speeding border crossings into Canada.

Financing:

Individual awards can be $5 million-$25 million. In urban areas, the federal share is up to 80 percent of project costs, with a 20 percent local match. For projects in rural areas, the minimum award is lowered to $1 million; the federal share may increase to more than 80 percent for capital projects in rural areas as well as for planning projects in areas of persistent poverty. In FY 2021, no more than $100 million could be awarded to projects in a single state. All FY 2021 RAISE funds must be expended by Sept. 30, 2029.

Funding:

$500 million (TIGER FY 2012)
$474 million (TIGER FY 2013)
$600 million (TIGER FY 2014)
$500 million (TIGER FY 2015)
$500 million (TIGER FY 2016)
$500 million (TIGER FY 2017)
$1.5 billion (BUILD FY 2018)
$900 million (BUILD FY 2019)
$1.0 billion (BUILD FY 2020)
$1.0 billion (RAISE FY 2021)

Additional Information:

U.S. Department of Transportation – RAISE Discretionary Grants