PNWER RIA Celebrates Additional RIA Funding in Federal Appropriations Law
Congress Directs RIA Funding to at Least One Multi-State Organization
WASHINGTON (March 12, 2024) – On Saturday, President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024, providing fiscal year 2024 (FY24) funding for programs and activities at certain federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). As part of this funding package, Congress recognized the benefits of the Build America Bureau’s (Bureau) Regional Infrastructure Accelerator (RIA) competitive grant program by providing the department with $10 million to continue the program. Notably, when allocating this FY24 RIA funding, Congress directed USDOT to select at least one organization that serves a multi-state region and supports at least one project focused on public and private clean energy investments in the nation’s intermodal freight and logistics networks.
“As one of the first USDOT-funded RIA programs, PNWER has witnessed firsthand the importance of the program to local projects and communities and is eager for the Bureau to expand the program with this additional funding,” said Bruce Agnew, PNWER RIA director. “We are pleased that Congress similarly recognizes the importance of the RIA program, specifically the impact of coordinated multi-state approaches to advance clean energy and transportation emission reduction projects.”
Of additional note, the President’s FY 2025 Budget released yesterday proposed a $10.6 million allocation to the Bureau to provide assistance and communicate best practices, financing and funding opportunities to entities eligible under USDOT’s infrastructure finance programs.
The RIA program – which currently funds 24 accelerators across the country – fast-tracks project delivery and clears barriers for credit-worthy infrastructure projects by funding and encouraging best practices in project planning, studies and analysis, preliminary engineering, and design. USDOT selected PNWER as one of the initial five RIAs in 2021 and awarded PNWER a second grant in 2023 to provide capacity-building technical assistance and focus on bundling urban and rural infrastructure projects in key gateways and multi-state corridors in the Pacific Northwest.
Learn more about the PNWER RIA here
For more information on the FY 2024 Consolidated Appropriations Act, please visit:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/4366/text/enr
For more information on the President’s FY 2025 Budget, please visit:
https://www.transportation.gov/mission/budget/fiscal-year-2025-budget-highlights
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ABOUT PNWER
The Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER) is a public/private non-profit organization created by statute in 1991. Member jurisdictions include Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and Washington, and the Canadian provinces and territories of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories, and Yukon. PNWER's mission is to increase the economic well-being and quality of life for all citizens of the region; identify and promote "models of success; and serve as a conduit to exchange information. For more information on PNWER, visit www.pnwer.org.
ABOUT PNWER RIA
Initiated in 2021, the PNWER RIA serves as a convener for transportation projects in the region, specifically multistate and multi-jurisdictional initiatives with multi-modal and region-wide benefits. Funded through U.S. DOT’s Build America Bureau, the PNWER RIA helps identify Public-Private Partnerships (P3s) and federal financing opportunities to accelerate the delivery of transportation projects with region-wide benefits that ease supply chain disruptions, reduce transportation-related pollution, and increase economic and environmental justice, especially for historically underserved communities.
