Source: AGC of America Highway Facts Bulletin
U.S. DOT announced Oct. 28 the availability of up to $850 million in Fastlane grants for Fiscal Year 2017. Grant applications are being accepted through December 15 by DOT’s newly created Build America Bureau. This is the second round of grants in this program which was created in the FAST Act to help pay for high-priority freight and highway projects across the country. The FAST Act authorized the program at $4.5 billion for fiscal years 2016 through 2020 and required DOT to submit the proposed grant recipients for Congressional review prior to actually making the awards.
DOT awarded $759.2 million in the 2016 round, notifying Congress of its selections in July and issuing the awards in September. Those grants leveraged an additional $3.6 billion in other funding from federal, state, local, and private sources. DOT received 212 applications for Fastlane grants for the 2016 round requesting $9.8 billion, far in excess of the $850 million available.