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The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, 1 Year Later
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) was signed into law on November 15, 2022. It includes historic funding for infrastructure in both size and scope: $1.2T for infrastructure funding, including $550B in new spending, with an explicit emphasis on equity and climate. Where are we now, one year into the implementation of this historic legislation?
The Atlas’s new report, Build Locally, Fund Federally: A Year of Lessons from Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) seeks to answer this question. The qualitative report is based on discussions with a diverse set of more than 150 state and local government leaders broken into 5 sector-specific sections – transportation, broadband, water, climate, and cybersecurity.
With IIJA, state and local governments have entered an entirely new position: one where federal funding for infrastructure is plentiful, but tricky to deploy quickly and effectively. Many state and local leaders in The Atlas’s discussions expressed that they are going from “drought to deluge” when it comes to the influx of federal funding. To take advantage of this sudden flood of resources, state and local governments are in the midst of a massive mindset, capacity, and workforce shift.
To complicate matters further, how and when money is awarded depends on program specifics – for some sectors, like transportation and water, money is already being awarded. For example, in the transportation sector, the City of Phoenix received $250 million in RAISE grant funding to build a bicycle and pedestrian bridge connecting the underserved South Phoenix community to transportation, housing, education and employment opportunities. In the water sector, Tennessee received $120.8 million in IIJA funding for water projects through the EPA’s State Revolving Fund programs. For other sectors, like broadband and cybersecurity, awards are likely still many months away.
The Atlas’s report includes emerging pain points, best practices and resources from the state and local government leaders most involved in translating IIJA money into impactful projects in communities around the country. Importantly, it includes examples of projects that are already being funded through IIJA and includes Notices of Funding Opportunity when relevant.
Read Build Locally, Fund Federally: A Year of Lessons from Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
This content is made possible by our sister brand, The Atlas; it is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Route Fifty's editorial staff.
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