As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has announced the award of $1.2 billion to 39 State Departments of Transportation under the Low Carbon Transportation Materials Discretionary Grant Program.
The investments will support continued growth in clean American manufacturing, boosting the competitiveness of clean US industries and the creation of good manufacturing jobs while reducing pollution from the production of concrete, steel, and other bedrock materials of our economy. By catalyzing demand for clean construction materials, the Program complements the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic investments to support U.S. manufacturers that are cutting industrial emissions – the source of 30% of U.S. climate pollution.
The Program, which received $2 billion in funding under President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, provides States, Tribes, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, and other agencies with reimbursement and incentive funding to purchase American-made low carbon construction materials and products, including asphalt, glass, steel, and concrete for use in transportation projects. Building transportation-related infrastructure with cleaner construction materials supports the Administration’s whole-of government approach to economic development and tackling climate change.
“As we continue to modernize our infrastructure, the Biden-Harris Administration is taking important steps to mitigate the impact of climate change by using low-carbon materials to build and rebuild our transportation system,” said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “With today’s funding, dozens of states will have the resources they need to invest in cleaner materials and reduce carbon emissions while moving forward with projects that create jobs and support American manufacturing.”
“This new program helps spur investment in cleaner materials that are critical to building safe and sustainable infrastructure for the future,” said Acting Federal Highway Administrator Kristin White. “Materials with a lower carbon footprint are key to modernizing the transportation sector to fight against the impacts of climate change.”
The program is part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Federal Buy Clean Initiative, which leverages the federal government’s buying power as the world’s largest purchaser to spur demand for clean production of construction materials used in federal buildings, highways, and infrastructure projects while supporting America’s workers, American manufacturing and tackling the climate crisis.
“President Biden charged the Federal Government, as the world’s single largest buyer, to use the full power of the Federal footprint to catalyze change and tackle the climate crisis,” said Andrew Mayock, Federal Chief Sustainability Officer in the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “Today’s Inflation Reduction Act investment is another example of how the President’s Investing in America agenda is supporting U.S. manufacturing and workers while building healthier communities.”
Under the Low Carbon Transportation Materials program, State Departments of Transportation can establish new processes to implement and use low-carbon materials on Federal-aid construction projects. For example:
- Arizona DOT will develop a program that guides overall planning and implementation for purchasing concrete and asphalt mix, including by developing an inventory of low-carbon transportation materials and a process for selecting eligible materials for construction.
- Massachusetts DOT will develop a program to use construction materials and products that have substantially lower levels of carbon emissions along with specification language, and establish procedures to monitor and report on project performance.
- Ohio DOT will develop a comprehensive program to use construction materials and products—asphalt mixtures, concrete, cement and steel—that have substantially lower levels of carbon emissions.
- Wisconsin DOT will focus on asphalt and concrete purchase categories by developing a framework for material selection and tracking material usage through Environmental Product Declarations.
DOT has worked closely with interagency partners at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deliver the Biden-Harris Administration’s Buy Clean policy. Through a network of more than 38 grantees across the country as well as direct advisory services, EPA provides technical assistance to support manufacturers, businesses, government entities, nonprofits and other organizations that are developing and using environmental product declarations (EPD) to quantify embodied carbon of construction materials.
Below is a list of the 39 State DOTs that are receiving grant awards. More information on the grants is available on FHWA’s Low Carbon Transportation Materials Program Website: Low Carbon Transportation Materials Grants Program.
