Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Grant
Heritage Trail in Manchester, New Hampshire | Photo by TrailLink user sc302
To kick off 2025, USDOT announced $1.3 billion in RAISE grants for 109 projects across the country. These FY 2025 grants prioritize projects that address soaring demand for safe, connected regional walking and biking routes, with more than 3/4 of the projects addressing the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists, and nearly twenty percent of funding — more than $250 million— going to projects that exclusively focus on trails and other walking and biking infrastructure, including trail and active transportation networks. You can find the full list of awards here.
RAISE Becomes BUILD: NOFO Amended
FHWA recently published an amended version of the FY 2025 RAISE NOFO, which will now be referred to as BUILD. Under the new administration, the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Program has been renamed to the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) Program. While there is no change in the eight statutorily required criteria, these criteria have been reinterpreted to fit the new administration’s priorities. Applications are still due on January 30, 2025, at 11:59 pm eastern on Grants.gov. You can find the marked-up and new versions in PDF format below.
The competitive Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program invests in multimodal and multijurisdictional road, rail, transit and port projects that are typically harder to support through traditional U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) programs. These competitive grants are intended to make significant investments in projects that achieve national objectives. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes $7.5 billion in supplemental funding over five years for RAISE—a substantial increase given a $1 billion appropriation in fiscal year 2021.
In the FY 2024 cycle of RAISE grants, USDOT announced an unprecedented investment in projects that advance trail and active transportation infrastructure. Nearly $2.2 billion in RAISE grants were awarded this cycle to “projects that will help more people get where they need to be quickly, affordably, and safely.” This round of funding marks the program’s most far-reaching commitment to connecting people and places by trails and other active transportation infrastructure. Grants that support the needs of bicyclists and pedestrians were distributed in 48 states and Washington, D.C. This remarkable level of funding for trails, walking and biking underscores the critical role of active transportation infrastructure in providing safe, equitable walking and biking routes—an essential activity to enable more people to walk and bike where they need to go, reducing transportation-related emissions.
Quick Facts:
- Administered By: USDOT
- Type: Discretionary grants
- Year Created: 2009
- Also Known As: Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grants (2018 –2021); Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants (2009 – 2018)
RAISE Grant Eligibility
The following project types are eligible for funding:
Capital projects including but not limited to:
- Road or bridge projects eligible under title 23, United States Code
- Public transportation projects eligible under chapter 53 of title 49, United States Code
- Passenger and freight rail transportation projects
- Port infrastructure investments
- Intermodal projects
- Projects investing in surface transportation facilities that are located on Tribal land and for which title or maintenance responsibility is vested in the Federal government
Planning projects include the planning, preparation or design of eligible surface transportation capital projects.
RAISE Stories
View More Blogs
What the 2024 Election Means for Active Transportation
Federal RAISE Grants Illustrate Widespread Demand for Infrastructure That Makes It Safer and Easier to Walk and Bike in Communities Nationwide
American Icon: The Great American Rail-Trail Is on Its Way to Fulfilling a Cross-Country Vision
Resources
USDOT releases regular notices of funding opportunities and information about applying for RAISE grants on its website, here: www.transportation.gov/RAISEgrants. Information on previous RAISE grants can be found here: RAISE 2021 Capital Awards and RAISE 2021 Planning Awards
RTC’s resources can help guide your strategy surrounding RAISE applications.
