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

November 26, 2025

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 Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) was published to Grants.gov on November 26, 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.

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

Improve safety
Environmental sustainability
Quality of life
Mobility and community connectivity
Economic competitiveness and opportunity
State of good repair
Partnership and collaboration
Innovation

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 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.

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.