Game Changing Funding Coming to North Carolina, Alabama through USDOT RAISE — and Many More Grant Programs
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has announced $1.5 billion in funding granted through the 2023 Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grant program. This program, and its previous iterations, focuses on selecting transportation projects on a merits basis — projects that might not fit the bill of a typical highway project, and thus might not be so easy to fund without this program.
To date, the program has distributed $14.3 billion across 15 funding rounds to projects with a significant local or regional impact. Similar to last year, USDOT encouraged applicants to consider how their projects can address climate change, ensure racial equity, and remove barriers to opportunity — all goals that are closely aligned with Alta’s mission and with the needs of communities we work with. That’s why we’re especially proud to recognize the following cities, all of which worked with us to receive winning RAISE grants for their communities.
Below are some of the major funding successes:
High Point, North Carolina (2021) — Alta has been assisting the City of High Point for several years in its multimodal planning efforts, including with development of the High Point Pedestrian Plan, High Point Greenway Plan, and High Point Regional Bicycle Plan. In follow-up, we have been advising the City in the strategic selection, pursuit, and successful securing of federal grants.
Alta led the development of the successful 2021 USDOT RAISE “High Point on the Rise” grant request which secured $19.8 million in funding for a major redevelopment of downtown and southwest neighborhoods, redoing a major arterial (Elm Street) as a complete street with a sidepath (connecting destinations such as downtown, the Amtrak station, and the Truist baseball ballpark); and building a greenway loop in southwest.
In 2022 Alta evaluated the feasibility of installing a neighborhood-wide green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) system in southwest High Point, on another arterial — aptly named Green Street. In 2023 Alta helped the City secure a $5 million NCDEQ LASII grant to implement the first phase of the project.
Once known as the furniture manufacturing capital of the world, High Point is already adding multimodal and green infrastructure to the list of municipal highlights it will promote around the nation and the world, to attract visitors and investment.
Ecusta Trail, North Carolina (Just Announced) — The Ecusta Trail, when complete, will be a 19.4 mile rail-trail connecting Hendersonville, Brevard and the Pisgah National Forest, one of the most heavily visited forests in the nation. It will wind along streams, through fields and forests, connect residents and commerce, and offers a unique way to experience nature in the Western North Carolina mountains. The Trail will connect communities, promote health, enhance both quality of life and the local economy, and eventually become a signature trail for the region. Alta helped partners of the Ecusta Trail secure two federal grants in early 2023, a $24.6 million USDOT RAISE grant and a $23.5 million Nationally Significant Federal Lands and Tribal Projects (NSFLTP) grant. This doubled the amount that local partners were expecting and, with Alta’s help in creating the master plan, will enable the community to make this long dreamed-of trail a reality.
Birmingham’s Civil Rights Crossroads: Reconnecting Historic Neighborhoods Through Active Mobility (Just Announced) — The Birmingham Civil Rights Crossroads project will create a 3.16 mile urban trail that traverses through the Civil Rights Historic District, a pivotal landscape in America’s Civil Rights movement, and reconnect communities divided by an interstate. Other unique elements include a two-way cycle track with micromobility hubs, direct access to transit islands, an increase in street trees, stormwater features, and other efforts to reduce the urban heat island effect. This project will be a catalyst for a historically disinvested community via economic revitalization, improved safety, and better connectivity. In total, the City of Birmingham, with support of its partners like The Freshwater Land Trust, will receive $21.6 million in RAISE Grant funds.
The Civil Rights Crossroads project partially came from the Alta-led Red Rock Trail Vision Plan, which built upon the Red Rock Ridge and Valley Trail Master Plan by identifying nine trail corridors for implementation.
While these grants are incredibly competitive, the good news is that nearly 2 in 5 RAISE grant projects that won in 2022 were resubmitted from the previous year, and Alta’s talented group of funding experts can help you apply. Reach out to Matt Hayes at matthayes@altago.com to learn more.
What’s Next:
New Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods (RCN) Grant Program
In a major change for two programs created by the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the USDOT has combined two funding programs into one, combining the new Neighborhood Access and Equity (NAE) funds with the second year of the Reconnecting Communities Programs (RCP). Though still technically separate programs, the combination creates a streamlined grant application process and a consolidated $3.3 billion funding bucket in the new Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods (RCN) Program.
The types of grants that can be sought:
- Capital Construction — both for infrastructure reconnection and smaller projects to reduce environmental harm and lack of access to disadvantaged communities — $2.72 billion
- Community Planning — planning to support future construction or innovative community planning to address local transportation challenges — $185 million
- Regional Partnerships Challenge — to incentivize stronger partnerships among all levels of government including local, metropolitan, regional, state, and tribal — and non-profit, private and community partners for equitable access, mobility challenges, and greenhouse gas reductions — $450 million
This is a key grant opportunity for cities to consider, especially so for the large amount of funding available to complete planning and get a project off the ground, as they work to increase mobility options, equity, and connections among neighborhoods in their communities. Forty percent of the total funds available from RCN (over $1.1 billion) are reserved for disadvantaged or underserved communities.
Who can apply?
RCP grants are typically pursued by local governments, MPOs, or state agencies; non-profit organizations are also eligible for RCP planning grants. NAE program grants will be available to a broader range of government agencies and combinations of several organizations applying together are encouraged; however, nonprofits must partner with the owner of the property. For any capital grant, the owner of the property must be a partner.
Why apply?
Besides the funding level, the addition of the NAE program opens up many more possible types of projects, including projects that “improve walkability, safety, and affordable transportation access through context-sensitive strategies for improving community connectivity; mitigating or remediating negative impacts on the human or natural environment; and assisting economically disadvantaged or underserved communities with planning and capacity building activities.”
Grant awardees could use the funding to install sound barriers, improve safety in their neighborhoods, increase mobility options, or incorporate green infrastructure, among others. With the large amount of funds available and a range of possibilities, the new Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods combined grant has a unique ability to increase connectivity in communities and restore neighborhoods. Reach out to Spencer Finch at spencerfinch@altago.com to learn more.
Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A)
Vision Zero — a future where your community has zero traffic fatalities — is becoming more and more the aspiration of every community across North America. To help make those aspirations a reality, USDOT created the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program, which has been incredibly active, with the most recent grant application round having just wrapped up on July 10. Alta is working closely with our clients who have been awarded SS4A grants already, those who just applied this year, and those who are working on their Safety Action Plans to support 2024 SS4A implementation applications.
As an example, starting in January 2023, Alta worked on a fast timeline with the City of Knoxville and the Knoxville Regional TPO to complete and adopt a regional safety plan in time to submit an implementation grant request this July, expediting potential funding for countermeasures. The plan meets the different demands and circumstances of both the urban core and the many rural settings around the region, including identifying a High Injury Network (HIN) and crash profiles in both rural and urban areas. It prioritizes next steps for specific projects in urban areas and two priority types of crashes to be addressed in rural zones: roadway/lane departure crashes; and left turn crashes.
If your community wants to be next in line to reach Vision Zero or apply for SS4A funding, please contact Jeremy Chapman at jeremychapman@altago.com.
RAISE grants, and these other federal funding opportunities (such as SS4A, PROTECT, and RCN), provide cities with a unique opportunity to get vital and urgent projects built quicker, shortening the timeline to create safer, more equitable, and more sustainable places for people on the move. It pays off to be ready when the grant deadline is announced. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to Matt, Spencer or Jeremy now — to start getting ready to transform your community!
