DOT announces $848M to make infrastructure more resilient to 'worsening impacts of climate change'

Local and state governments are preparing grant applications for $848 million being made available from the Biden administration to update and upgrade travel infrastructure so that it can be more resilient to the "worsening impacts of climate change," the Transportation Department said Friday.

The agency will be accepting pitches until Aug. 18 and encourages state and local governments including Indian tribes to apply.

"As part of the President’s Investing in America agenda, the program will invest in projects to make the country’s surface transportation system – including highways, public transportation, pedestrian facilities, ports, and intercity passenger rail – more resilient to the worsening impacts of climate change," the announcement read.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg commented in the announcement, saying "climate change threatens not just our lives and livelihoods, but the infrastructure we rely on every day."

He also said the money will "help ensure that our roads, bridges and highways" are climate-change resilient. 

In addition to upgrading infrastructure, the agency says the grant project will "improve equity" and "further environmental justice" by addressing the concerns and needs of "disadvantaged communities" that are vulnerable to climate hazards.

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