The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is doling out nearly $830 million in grants to 80 different projects aimed at strengthening U.S. infrastructure against climate change.
The funds will be distributed across 39 states and territories for projects ranging from restoring aging bridges to expanding emergency evacuation routes. The grants are “the first of their kind,” according to USDOT, which is partnering with state, local and tribal governments thanks to funding available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.
Climate change is intensifying risks to the country's transportation infrastructure. The number of billion-dollar climate disasters reached a record last year. And even slow-moving calamities, such as rising sea levels, are forcing communities to adapt to changing landscapes.
Number of billion-dollar climate disasters hit record high last year
“From a drought that disrupted barge traffic on the Mississippi River to New York subway flooding, extreme weather, worsened by climate change, is damaging America's transportation infrastructure, preventing people from getting to where they need to go, and threatening to raise the cost of goods by disrupting supply chains,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a Press release.
USDOT has plenty of cash for four different types of projects. Approximately $45 million will go to 10 projects to build evacuation routes. Another $45 million will be channeled toward planning projects that include preparing for evacuations and conducting vulnerability assessments. Eight projects to protect or relocate coastal infrastructure, including roads and highways, will receive $119 million, including the Manasota Key Bascule Bridge used for storm evacuations in Florida and a stretch of the Newport Cliff Walk in Rhode Island that collapsed in 2022.
Most of the money ($621 million) goes toward other types of “resilience enhancement.” This includes 36 projects aimed at making roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure more resilient to flooding, rising temperatures and other consequences of climate change.
The Oglala Sioux Tribe, for example, received a $60 million grant to improve Route 33 from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), a key route through rural southwest South Dakota and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation . The money will be used to lift portions of the road and lay down pavement better suited to resist flooding, snow and ice. The plan also includes widening the road and adding shoulders for use in emergencies.
The USDOT has a complete list of awarded on their website. All in all, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act includes 50 billion dollars for resilience and adaptation to climate.
The Biden administration recently launched ARPA-I, a research and development project specifically for infrastructure that was also authorized through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. “If we're going to spend tens of billions of dollars every year maintaining and improving what we have, let's invest a little and figure out how to make what we have last longer,” Buttigieg said. The edge of the initiative last year. “Designing things that we can't even imagine today.”
