Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act - The Basics
As the Upstate Mobility Alliance builds out our “Infrastructure & Investment Jobs Act (IIJA) Dashboard” over the coming weeks, we’re providing you with a quick primer on the bill itself to get you grounded before we dive in deep. We’ll be covering portions of this bill over the coming weeks through our blog here, so stay tuned for more.
The Basics
What is the IIJA?
The Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA) was signed into law in November of 2021. It is also commonly referred to as the “Bipartisan Infrastructure Law” (BIL). It is a $1.2 trillion bill that provides funding for new and existing infrastructure programs at the federal level. There are over 370 grant programs part of IIJA in total.
How Much Money are We Talking?
The largest infrastructure package in our nation’s history, IIJA appropriated $1.2 trillion over the next five years. Over $550 billion of the total funds will support new grant programs across numerous agencies, while the remaining balance will support and/or boost existing grant programs. $180 billion of new funding will be for competitive grants, while $470 billion will be in the form of state or local formula grants. Here’s a breakdown from McKinsey & Company:
Competitive Grants vs. Formula Grants
Formula grants are awarded automatically to states or local jurisdictions, depending on the program, based on existing or new formulas that rely mostly on census data. Whether it’s by population numbers, economic numbers, or other metrics - these grants are typically automatically awarded upon successful submission and approval of a spending plan for these new funds. Deadlines for those plans varies by program.
Competitive grants are exactly what you’d expect. These are funds that will be granted by federal agencies based on the merits of applications made by eligible entities. Again, each program has different windows for applications.
Many grant programs, especially the new ones, have funding for five years in the IIJA, meaning that some of the competitive grants will see annual grant cycles.
Who’s eligible to apply?
The vast majority of grant programs are open only to units of government (state/local/tribal/territory) or transit systems. There are however a fair number of programs that allow for nonprofit or other NGOs to apply for funding, or be the beneficiary of grant funding. Each program varies.
What’s Funded?
Short answer - a lot. Scroll down for a link to our spreadsheet with a list of every grant program available, but if you picked a transportation/infrastructure related project in your community, odds are it can find eligibility amongst at least one of these programs.
But it’s not just roads that are eligible. Public transportation enhancements, electric vehicle infrastructure, waterway projects, brownfield treatment, natural gas lines, trails, sidewalks, traffic control - all of these types of projects, and more, are eligible under IIJA programs.
What’s the timeframe?
This level of funding exists for five years. While grantees may have longer than five years to complete funded projects, these new funds or boosted funds are available for five years. Many of these grant programs have been around awhile and simply got a five-year increase in funding under IIJA, so those programs will almost certainly remain in place, though potentially at their “normal” levels of funding. New grant programs may very well sunset at the end of five years, though some may become new long-standing programs depending on the impact.
Is there a full list of grants somewhere?
We’ve got one! You can read through our spreadsheet summary document at the link below. You can also visit the primary website for the bill to learn more about each program.
Note: Our spreadsheet is subject to formatting and content changes. Currently it lists what UMA has ranked as the “most relevant” grant programs that align with our region and our mission.
Primary Agency Sites: USDOT / US Dept of Energy / FTA / EPA / FAA / Joint Office of Energy & Transportation
What’s South Carolina’s plan?
As mentioned - a lot of these funds will go directly to states through formula grants. For South Carolina, estimates are that number will get to about $6 billion. Some of these funds will go to existing programs with their own existing system of delivery. Others may find their way into new programs or projects across the state.
We don’t yet have a clear answer as to “what is SC’s plan?” The state has not formally named a point person overseeing all federal infrastructure funds, though the SC DOT will be the primary agency these funds pass through.
One of our goals at the Upstate Mobility Alliance is to monitor all activity around these funds at the state level and alert you to opportunities to advocate for your community.