FHWA Divides $62B in Highway, Bridge Formula Funds

FHWA Divides Up $62B in Highway, Bridge Formula Funds

Formula highway funding has risen due to the IIJA.

Illustration by Scott Hilling/ENR, original elements by Getty Images.

The Federal Highway Administration has allocated $62 billion in federal highway formula funds to states to help fund upgrades to highways, bridges, tunnels and other infrastructure around the country.

In announcing the funding distributions on Oct. 1, FHWA said that the formula program funding has been on the rise since the advent of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that to date FHWA has funded more than 60,000 projects from the IIJA.

He said that that the new formula funding “will help states and communities continue to rebuild roads and bridges, implement new and innovative transportation solutions, strengthen our supply chains and create good-paying jobs nationwide.”

FHWA said that the $62 billion in formula funding is an increase of $18.8 billion from fiscal 2021, which was the last fiscal year before the IIJA took effect. The formulas that determine how the funds are divided among the states are congressionally mandated.

The newly apportioned funding, for fiscal year 2025, will go to the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The formula programs are of great importance to state departments of transportation and construction companies that focus on transportation work. “They are the backbone of the federal surface transportation transportation program,” said Brian Turmail, Associated General Contractors of America vice president of public affairs and workforce.

Turmail said in an email, “Those funds provide the bulk of the federal support to states for the maintenance and improvement of our transportation networks.”

The funds flow through 12 formula programs, according to FHWA.

View table showing nine of the 12 programs here.

The largest, totaling $30.2 billion, is the National Highway Performance Program.

The top recipients of that program’s fiscal year 2025 funding are: Texas, with about $5.5 billion; California, wit $5.2 billion; and Florida, with $2.7 billion.

Among other programs, the Bridge Formula Program totals $5.3 billion. The largest state recipient of bridge formula funds is California, with $574.8 million; followed by New York, with $409 million; and Pennsylvania, with $353.4 million.

Tom Ichniowski has been writing about the federal government as ENR’s Washington Bureau Chief since the George H.W. Bush administration, and he has covered at least five major highway bills. A recognized expert on government policy on infrastructure and regulation, Tom is also a Baltimore native and Orioles fan who grew up rooting for Brooks and Frank Robinson. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia’s graduate school of journalism, where he once used “unrelentless” in a headline.

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