The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law established both the PROTECT Formula and Discretionary Grant Programs (described separately). The PROTECT Program helps increase surface transportation resilience to natural hazards, like flooding, through planning activities, strengthening community resilience and evacuation routes, and improving coastal and natural infrastructure. The PROTECT Formula Program is designed for State agencies to help communities and first responders prepare for natural disasters and extreme weather intensified by climate change. Nature-based solutions, such as protective wetland buffers and culverts, are eligible for this program.

Eligible Uses

  • Planning Activities, including vulnerability assessments, technical capacity building, evacuation planning, and development of a Resilience Improvement Plan.  
  • Resilience Improvements to increase resilience of existing surface transportation infrastructure
  • Community Resilience and Evacuation Route activities that strengthen and protect evacuation routes that are essential for providing and supporting evacuations caused by emergency events
  • At-Risk Coastal Infrastructure activities to strengthen, stabilize, harden, elevate, relocate or otherwise enhance the resilience of highway and non-rail infrastructure, including: bridges, roads, pedestrian walkways, and bicycle lanes, and associated infrastructure.
  • Natural infrastructure that protects and enhances surface transportation assets while improving ecosystem conditions, including culverts that ensure adequate flows in rivers and estuarine systems.

Eligible Recipients

For the Formula Program, states (including D.C.) are eligible.

Approx Annual Funding Amount

Roughly $1.5 billion is annually available from FY2022-2026 through the Formula Program, totaling $7.5 billion. Each State’s PROTECT Formula Program apportionment is calculated based on a predetermined percentage determined by law.

Cost Share Requirements

  • An 80% federal / 20 % non-federal cost share is required.
  • Cost share requirements may be fulfilled through other Federal non-PROTECT Formula Program funds, though cost share requirements of those federal funds must still be met.
  • Non-Federal cost share requirements may be reduced by up to 10 percentage points if states have a Resilience Improvement Plan in place and if that plan is incorporated into other metropolitan or statewide long-range transportation plans.

Application Cycle

Each State’s PROTECT Formula Program apportionment is calculated based on a percentage specified in law.

Contact

Other Info

  • This program is covered under the Justice40 Initiative.
  • Each state must use at least 2% of its PROTECT Formula Program funding each fiscal year for resilience-related planning activities
  • States may transfer 50% of their technical assistance funds from their Surface Transportation Block Grant funds to provide technical assistance for PROTECT grants
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