U.S. DOT Opens Applications for BUILD Grants

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has opened a new round of funding applications for the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) program. BUILD grants have previously been known as TIGER and RAISE grants. The program is a flexible, multimodal grant competition.

BIL Expands BUILD Grants with Planning Options

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) provided $1.5 billion for the program in FY26 with a maximum individual award of $25 million. The new round of BUILD grants will include options for either capital funding awards or planning grants. APA has long supported funding for separate BUILD planning grants.

Capital grants support the implementation of a wide array of surface transportation projects. For these grants, there are minimum requests of no less than $5 million in urban areas and $1 million in rural areas. Planning grants support the planning, preparation, or design of surface transportation projects. Planning requests may include multidisciplinary projects or regional planning.

Applications are due February 24, 2026

DOT has indicated that grant announcements are expected by the end of June 2026. State, local, and tribal governments are eligible recipients of BUILD grants, as are transit authorities, MPOs, and port authorities. One hallmark of BUILD grants is the broad eligibility and availability of local governments to apply.

Previous BUILD grants were among those under scrutiny by the Trump administration in 2025, with several grants modified or partially rescinded. The new Notice of Funding Opportunity for 2026 BUILD grants makes several changes to evaluation criteria for consistency with administration policy. Project merit evaluation criteria are now "safety, quality of life, mobility, community connectivity, and economic competitiveness."

BUILD Criteria Shifts, Funding Uncertain

This year's competition will not carry over priority consideration of "projects of merit" from 2025. Projects of merit are those that ranked highly in the prior year's competition but did not receive a grant. DOT is not providing similar consideration for 2025 projects of merit. However, the 2027 round will include projects of merit from 2026. This is likely an effort to further reinforce new criteria and policies.

The new evaluation process now also takes into account whether proposed projects are located in a designated Opportunity Zone. The Opportunity Zone program was made permanent in the 2025 tax bill and is a priority for the Trump administration. Other federal infrastructure grants are also expected to take location in Opportunity Zones into consideration.

The outlook for BUILD funding beyond 2026 is uncertain. FY26 is the last year covered under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The Trump administration's budget proposal called for funding cuts. Congress has yet to take final action on the DOT budget for FY26, and a new deadline looms at the end of January. Congress is also set to deal with the renewal of the transportation reauthorization bill. The current authorization expires at the end of September.