- Congress is starting to discuss the details of the next surface transportation bill, the primary source of funding for many infrastructure projects around the country.
- The last bill, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, increased spending and gave cities a chance to apply directly for federal funds.
- The National League of Cities is urging local leaders to share their priorities with Congress by May 23.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021 reoriented the relationship between local jurisdictions and the federal government, providing many cities with their first opportunity to apply directly for federal money through competitive grant programs aimed at street safety, disaster resilience and other goals. Now, cities are asking Congress to keep those opportunities open.
Much of the IIJA, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is set to expire in 2026. That includes the basic funding for road maintenance that the federal government issues to states, which Congress reauthorizes every few years. With lawmakers beginning to debate the details of the next reauthorization, the National League of Cities is asking local leaders to speak up about their priorities. Last week, the NLC issued a call to action for city leaders to submit transportation funding priorities to their members of Congress this month.
“Congress changed the game with their infrastructure and transportation investments last time by opening up a lot of competitive grant programs — so many that it really was a heavy lift at the U.S. Department of Transportation to get everything out the door — but it’s had a tremendous impact around the country,” says Brittney Kohler, NLC’s legislative director for transportation and infrastructure. “When you look at the number of grants the DOT gives out, [cities] are now their largest stakeholder.”
Kohler notes that 75 percent of roads are owned by local and county governments, but cities have traditionally received little to no transportation funding directly from the federal government. Most funding is instead filtered through state departments of transportation, which share just a small portion with cities and which, some recent research shows, don’t keep close track of their progress toward specific goals. Programs like Safe Streets and Roads for All have allowed cities to directly access federal funding to help pay for their own infrastructure priorities.
“We really have benefited over the last few years,” says Van Johnson, the mayor of Savannah, Ga., and second vice president at the National League of Cities. Savannah, a city of about 150,000 people which hosts more than 16 million tourists a year, received a $9.9 million Safe Streets grant last year to make a series of intersections safer for drivers and pedestrians. More than $2.9 billion has been allocated to around 1,600 communities to date as part of the program. “This was a unique partnership as the federal partners recognized that cities knew what was best for cities, and that all cities are not alike,” Johnson says.
NLC’s Priorities
The NLC submitted a list of priorities to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure last month. The group is asking for expanded opportunities for cities and regional planning organizations to directly access federal funds. It’s also asking for expedited environmental review and permitting for small transportation projects and projects in an existing right of way.
The NLC is pushing local leaders to submit their own priorities to their members of Congress by May 23, ahead of a deadline for members to share their requests with the committee that will hash out the details of the next reauthorization. The group has created a form to help local leaders request a meeting with their congressional representatives.
In addition to the direct funding opportunities for localities, the NLC is also lobbying for Congress to continue the trend of investing more in transportation and infrastructure. Kohler acknowledges that the political winds are pushing in the opposite direction, with pressure on Congress to cut spending across the board. But the group argues that infrastructure investments deliver a high return on investment.
In testimony on behalf of NLC to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure earlier this year, Austin Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes cited estimates that reducing funding to pre-2021 levels would create trillions of dollars in unfunded state-of-good-repair needs in water, transportation, and energy infrastructure, and raise costs for families over time.
“Infrastructure’s costs far exceed what local governments can raise themselves on their annual balanced budgets,” Fuentes said. “Reducing infrastructure investment from IIJA levels would be a trillion-dollar mistake.”
