Grant Summary: USDOT Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) Program

United States Department of Transportation Discretionary Grants Opportunity

BUILD Application Deadlines

• Tuesday, February 24, 2026, by 5 p.m. ET

The Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) program is a multimodal competitive discretionary grant program authorized under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to close the funding gap for surface transportation infrastructure projects with a significant regional or local impact. This program was previously known as the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program. The program’s updated Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) was published to Grants.gov on December 15, 2025.

The U.S. Department of Transportation will award grant funding to projects that improve safety, environmental sustainability, quality of life, mobility and community connectivity, economic competitiveness, and opportunity, including tourism, state of good repair, partnership and collaboration. USDOT intends to amend the NOFO to provide more details on the merit and selection criteria it will use to evaluate and select grant awards.

There is $1.5 billion in FY 2026 IIJA funding available for this round with minimum award sizes of $1 million for rural capital projects and $5 million for urban capital projects and with maximum award size of $25 million. Applications must be submitted by February 24, 2026, at 5 p.m. ET. Awards will be announced by USDOT no later than June 28, 2026.

Changes from the FY 2025 NOFO:

• One round of project selection for the FY 2026 BUILD grant program
• FY 2025 BUILD applications designated "Projects of Merit" will not be carried over into the FY 2026 BUILD competition. Applicants will need to submit a new application to be considered under the FY 2026 competition.
• FY 2026 BUILD applications advanced by the Senior Review Team to the Highly Rated List, but that are not awarded, are designated as "Projects of Merit" and will be carried over into FY 2027 BUILD.
• Updates Areas of Persistent Poverty to account for the most recent annual Small Area Income Poverty Estimates estimated by the Bureau of the Census.
• Project elements and benefits under the merit criteria have been updated to align with Administration priorities and executive orders.
• Changes priority merit criteria to: safety, quality of life, mobility and community connectivity, and economic competitiveness.

The program will award funding for projects that address the following objectives:

• Safety
• Quality of life
• Mobility and community connectivity
• Economic competitiveness 

Full details on the program, including the Notice of Funding Opportunity, are published on the USDOT BUILD Grant program webpage.

Eligible Capital Projects:

• Highway, bridge or other road projects
• Public transportation projects
• Passenger and freight rail transportation projects
• Port infrastructure investments (port infrastructure and land ports of entry)
• Surface transportation components of an airport project
• Intermodal projects
• Projects to replace or rehabilitate a culvert or prevent stormwater runoff
• Projects investing in surface transportation facilities that are located on Tribal land
• Other surface transportation infrastructure project that USDOT considers to be necessary to advance the goals of the program

Eligible Planning Projects

• Planning, preparation, or design of eligible surface transportation capital projects
• Development of master plans, comprehensive plans and plans that integrate economic development, land use, housing and transportation
• Planning activities related to the development of multimodal freight corridor
• Development of port and regional port planning
• Risk assessments and planning to identify vulnerabilities (Address the transportations system's ability to withstand an emergency or major disaster.)

Eligible Applicants

• States and the District of Columbia
• Any territory or possession of the United States
• Unit of local government
• A public agency or publicly chartered authority established by one or more states
• Special-purpose district or public authority with a transportation function
• Federally recognized Tribe or consortium of such Tribes
• Transit agency
• Multistate or multijurisdictional group of separately eligible entities

Federal Award Information

The minimum BUILD capital grant award is $5 million in urban areas and $1 million in rural areas. The maximum grant award for capital and planning grants is $25 million. There is no minimum award amount for planning grants.

Grant Fund Awards Distribution and Restrictions 

Half of the funds awarded (not more than $750 million) will be awarded to rural projects and half to urban projects. Additionally, USDOT will award at least $75 million for the planning, preparation or design of eligible projects. No more than 15% ($225 million) of the funds made available for BUILD grants may be awarded to projects in a single state. USDOT will award at least 1% ($15 million) of the funds to projects located in Areas of Persistent Poverty and/or Historically Disadvantaged Communities.

Cost Sharing or Matching

The Federal share of project costs may not exceed 80% unless the project is in a rural area, a Historically Disadvantaged Community, or an Area of Persistent Poverty. The NOFO includes a cost sharing or matching equation recommended by USDOT to determine the cost share.

USDOT DOES use an applicant's cost share when evaluating applications on merit.

Areas of Persistent Poverty and Historically Disadvantaged Community

Federal share for BUILD funding will not exceed 80% unless the project falls under one of the following location designations:

• Rural
• Areas of Persistent Poverty (APP)
• Historically Disadvantaged Community (HDC)

If a project falls under one of those categories, it is eligible to fund the project up to 100% with federal funding. Projects located in urban areas, that are not considered APP and/or HDC, that have more than 80% federal funding, will be ineligible.

Merit Criteria

• Safety: seeks to enhance transportation safety and reduce fatalities and serious injuries through effective risk mitigation strategies.
• Environmental Sustainability: seeks to improve infrastructure resilience and incorporate nature-based or risk-reduction strategies.
• Quality of Life: seeks to improve user experience, accessibility and affordability through context-sensitive design and amenities.
• Mobility and Community Connectivity: seeks to enhance accessibility, remove barriers and support multimodal transportation options.
• Economic Competitiveness and Opportunity: advances the nation’s domestic energy sector, revitalizes and restores domestic maritime industries, promotes economic growth, promotes or reshores industries of national interest, includes union participation, improves intermodal and/or multimodal freight mobility, addresses a freight bottleneck, supports growth and expansion of American exports, expands access to safe truck parking, or facilitates tourism opportunities.
• State of Good Repair: restores and modernizes aging infrastructure, enhances safety, and/or reduces long-term maintenance burdens.
• Partnership and Collaboration: fosters partnership and collaboration by engaging communities, forming public-private partnerships, coordinating with related projects and supporting workforce development.
• Innovation: advanced technologies, accelerated delivery methods and creative financing strategies.

Additional considerations include project readiness and cost effectiveness in demonstrated projects.

The Secretary may prioritize the selection of projects that:

• can begin construction within 18 months of selection; or
• are located in a designated Qualified Opportunity Zone; or
• have a higher percent of non-federal funding committed to the project; or
• have not received a BUILD/RAISE/TIGER grant previously.

Benefit-Cost Analysis (capital projects only):

• High Rating: Benefits will exceed its costs; BCA of at least 2.0
• Medium-High Rating: Benefits will exceed its costs
• Medium: Benefits are likely to exceed its costs
• Medium-Low: Costs are likely to exceed its benefits
• Low: Costs will exceed its benefits

Review and Selection Process

Capital projects that receive second-tier analysis will be reviewed on three evaluation ratings:

• Project Risk Review: assessing milestones, design status, permitting, right-of-way needs and overall likelihood of timely completion.
• Applicant Capacity Review: assessing experience with federal funds, compliance knowledge, resources and ability to implement proposed innovations.
• Financial Completeness Review: fully-funded, well-documented budget with reasonable cost estimates, contingencies and plans for overruns.

Planning projects that receive second-tier analysis will be reviewed on two evaluation ratings:

• Applicant Capacity Review: assessing experience with federal funds, compliance knowledge, resources and ability to implement proposed innovations.
• Financial Completeness Review: fully-funded, well-documented budget with reasonable cost estimates, contingencies and plans for overruns.

Applications are due February 24, 2026, by 5 p.m. ET and selections are expected to be announced no later than June 28, 2026.