How Locals Are Planning to Spend $2.2 Billion in RAISE Transportation Grants

The U.S. Department of Transportation earlier this month announced $2.2 billion in RAISE grants. The Biden administration has promised that the RAISE grant program will improve equity and sustainability in the nation's transportation systems.

8 minute read

August 22, 2022, 6:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell

U.S> Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg delivers a speech in front of a bridge in Washington, D.C. The podium where he stands has a sign that reads: "Building a Better America."

Noel-Marie Fletcher / Shutterstock

The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Biden administration on August 11, 2022 announced $2.2 billion in RAISE grant funding for transportation projects around the United States. With a 50-50 split between urban and rural projects, the Biden administration has promised to leverage the RAISE program, bolstered with funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, to reduce emissions while improving equity, increase options for car-free mobility, improve the sustainability of the nation’s transportation systems.

The Biden administration announced RAISE program in April 2021 as a replacement for the BUILD grant program of the Trump administration, itself a replacement of the TIGER grant program of the Obama administration.  

To allow more scrutiny of the RAISE grant funding round, especially as compared to the Biden administration’s own ambitions and the funding programs of its predecessors, Planetizen has gathered local news coverage and public relations communications on almost all of the programs funded by RAISE this month.

This is part one of this series, listing 83 of the first 84 projects funded (out of a total of 166), with the rest to follow shortly, with part two of the series.

News Coverage

Alabama

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Washington, D.C.

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Press Releases

Alaska

Arizona

California

Georgia

Idaho

Maine

Massachusetts

Infrastructure Transportation RAISE Grants Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Biden Administration Transportation Funding Transportation Planning Secretary Pete Buttigieg Equity Greenhouse Gas Emissions Emission Reductions View More

James Brasuell

James Brasuell, AICP is the former editorial director of Planetizen and is now a senior public affairs specialist at the Southern California Association of Governments. James managed all editorial content and direction for Planetizen from 2014 to 2023, and was promoted from manging editor to editorial director in 2021. After a first career as a class five white water river guide in Trinity County in Northern California, James started his career in Los Angeles as a volunteer at a risk reduction center in Skid Row.

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