Revised Rural Grant Applicant Toolkit
USDOT has revised its Rural Grant Applicant Toolkit for Competitive Federal Transportation Funding to help potential applicants identify and navigate discretionary grant opportunities for rural transportation projects.
The Rural Grant Applicant Toolkit provides an overview of key activities in the federal discretionary grants process, as well as resources to help rural applicants maximize their potential for award success. Developed as part of the Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (ROUTES) Initiative, the Rural Grant Applicant Toolkit complements the recently released DOT Discretionary Grants Dashboard to help rural communities identify discretionary grant opportunities that fit their unique transportation needs.
Although the focus of the Grant Applicant Toolkit is rural transportation projects, many of the grant funding resources also apply more broadly to other types of transportation projects. It's also been designed for all levels of grant applicant experience. It illustrates key applicant activities for the discretionary grants process, covers USDOT and non-USDOT grant programs, and provides resources to maximize the potential for award success.
The toolkit provides resources on discretionary grant funding in the following sections:
- DOT Discretionary Grants Dashboard
- Federal Funding & Financing
- The Grant Application Process
- Maximizing Award Success
- USDOT Discretionary Grant Programs
- Non-USDOT Discretionary Grant Programs
- Eligibility to Apply for Discretionary Grants
- The Critical Role of Rural Communities
The ROUTES Program
Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (ROUTES) is an initiative to address disparities in rural transportation infrastructure by developing user-friendly tools and information, aggregating DOT resources, and providing technical assistance.
The ROUTES initiative aims to ensure rural transportation infrastructure’s unique challenges are considered in order to meet priority transportation goals of safety, mobility, and economic competitiveness.
Discretionary Grants Dashboard
Updated weekly, the DOT Discretionary Grants Dashboard provides communities with an overview of discretionary grant opportunities that can help meet their transportation infrastructure needs.
Designed with all communities in mind, the Dashboard identifies grant programs with rural and tribal set-asides or match waivers available, while also including federal grant programs outside of DOT that may be of particular interest.
