Grant Details

New and Updated | Grant Search

Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods (RCN) Program: Reconnecting Communities Pilot (RCP) Program: Capital Construction Grants - FY 2023

Agency: U.S. Department of Transportation
CFDA: 20.940
Federal FON: DOT-RCP-FY23-01
Office: Office of the Secretary of Transportation
Multipart Grant: No
Next Due: 09/28/2023 (Application)
Solicitation Date: 07/05/2023
   
Match Required: Yes
Match Type: Cash/In-Kind
Actual Funds: $148,000,000 (Confirmed)
Award Range: $5,000,000 (Min)
Summary:

The purpose of this program is to advance community-centered connection transportation projects, with a priority for projects that benefit disadvantaged communities, by improving access to daily needs such as jobs, education, health care, food, and nature and recreation; fostering equitable development and restoration; and reconnecting communities by removing, retrofitting, or mitigating highways or other transportation facilities that create barriers to community connectivity. Specifically, award recipients will carry out projects to remove, retrofit, mitigate, or replace existing eligible dividing transportation facilities with new facilities that reconnect communities; mitigate a burdening transportation facility that is a source of air pollution, noise, stormwater, heat, or other burdens; and/or implement a strategy to reduce environmental harm and/or improve access through transportation improvements.

Proposed projects must address an eligible facility, which for the purposes of this program is defined as a highway or other transportation facility that creates a barrier to community connectivity, including barriers to mobility, access, or economic development, due to high speeds, grade separations, or other design factors. Eligible facilities include limited-access highways, viaducts, any other principal arterial facilities, and other facilities such as transit lines, rail lines, gas pipelines, and airports.

Eligible projects include those for which all necessary feasibility studies and other planning activities have been completed. Projects must be consistent with the long-range statewide transportation plan; included in the metropolitan long-range plan, if applicable; and included in the metropolitan transportation improvement program (TIP) and/or statewide transportation improvement program (STIP), tribal transportation program (TTIP), or equivalent, as applicable, prior to the obligation of the award. Transit projects must be included in the investment prioritization of the relevant transit asset management (TAM) plan by the time of the obligation of the award.

Eligible construction activities include preliminary and detailed design activities and associated environmental studies; predevelopment/preconstruction; and permitting activities, including the completion of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, for:

  • The removal, retrofit, or mitigation of an eligible facility
  • The replacement of an eligible facility with a new facility that restores community connectivity
  • Delivering community benefits and the mitigation of impacts identified through the NEPA process or other planning and project development for the capital construction project

The program is intended to reduce inequities across the transportation system, and will thus support and engage economically disadvantaged communities to increase affordable, accessible, and multimodal access to daily destinations. Projects are expected to address the following equity-related objectives:

  • Housing supply: projects that encourage an increase in housing supply via zoning reform to reduce regional displacement pressures
  • Rural and tribal communities: rural and tribal communities that face unique challenges related to mobility and economic development, including isolation, transportation cost burden, and traffic safety

In addition, the following strategic priorities will be considered:

  • Safety
  • Climate and sustainability
  • Equity and Justice40 communities
  • Workforce development, job quality, and wealth creation
  • Transformation/innovative solutions

Optional webinars are scheduled for this program. Refer to the Application section for additional information.

Last Updated: April 15, 2024

Eligibility Notes:

Eligible applicants must be the owner(s) of the eligible facility proposed in the project for which adequate planning activities, such as public involvement, user date evaluation, and conceptual design, have been completed. Owners of an eligible facility, for the purposes of submitting an application, may submit a joint application with:

  • States
  • Units of local government
  • Tribal governments
  • Metropolitan planning organizations
  • Nonprofit organizations

To minimize delays in establishing and implementing funding agreements, applicants that do not have experience with the funding requirements of the funding agency may opt to jointly apply with a partner in the same state or region that has an established financial relationship with the funding agency and knowledge of federal award administration requirements.

The funding agency encourages joint applications from place-based partnerships headed by a lead applicant.

The funding agency will consider benefits to economically disadvantaged communities, urban/rural/tribal balance, and geographic and organizational diversity when selecting awards. Refer to pages 41-42 of the NOFA file for information regarding the definition and designation of economically disadvantaged communities for purposes of this program.

Lead applicants may submit no more than two applications. Unrelated project components should not be bundled in a single application for the purpose of adhering to the limit.

Previous award recipients include:

  • City of Atlanta (GA)
  • Central Ohio Transit Authority (OH)
  • City and County of Denver (CO)
  • Michigan Department of Transportation (MI)
  • New York State Department of Transportation (NY)

Refer to the Award file for additional information on previous award recipients.

Eligible Applicants:
Local Government
Consortia
Native American Tribe
Non Profits
Other
Private Sector
State Government
Application Notes:

Applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. ET on September 28, 2023.

Applications must be submitted using the form that will become available online at usg.valideval.com.

Applications must include:

  • SF 424
  • SF 424C
  • SF 424D
  • Key information table
  • Narrative (20 pages max)
  • Budget
  • Project location file

Narratives must be formatted on single-spaced, numbered pages with one-inch margins on all sides, using a Times New Roman font no smaller than 12-point. Narratives must be submitted in .pdf format.

The following are required in order to submit an application:

  • Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number
  • SAM (System for Award Management) registration

Applicants may obtain a UEI number and verify or renew SAM registration status at www.ecivis.com/sam.

Optional webinars for this program are scheduled as follows:

Program Overview:
July 11, 2023
1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. ET
URL: usdot.zoomgov.com

Tribal Focus:
July 27, 2023
1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. ET
URL: usdot.zoomgov.com

Program Overview:
August 9, 2023
1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. ET

Rural/Nonprofit Focus:
August 15, 2023
1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. ET

Capital Construction Awards:
August 24, 2023
1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. ET

Recordings of webinars held for this program can be found online at www.transportation.gov/grants.

Applications will be evaluated according to the following merit criteria:

  • Equity and environmental justice
  • Access
  • Facility suitability
  • Community engagement and community-based stewardship, management, and partnerships
  • Equitable development
  • Climate and environment
  • Workforce development and economic opportunity

Select applicants that pass the merit review will proceed to second-tier analysis of applications, as detailed on pages 32-34 of the NOFA file.

Refer to the NOFA and Webinars files for additional application information.

Match Required: Yes
Match Type: Cash/In-Kind
Actual Funds: $148,000,000 (Confirmed)
Award Range: $5,000,000 (Min)
Match Notes:

Applicants must provide at least 50 percent of the total project costs via cash and/or in-kind contributions.

Federal assistance other than this program may be used to partially satisfy the match requirement, as long as the total federal assistance does not exceed 80 percent of the total project costs. Award recipients must contribute at lease 20 percent of project costs via local contributions. In addition, matching funds may include nonfederal sources such as:

  • State funds originating from programs funded by state revenue
  • Local funds originating from state or local revenue-funded programs
  • Philanthropic funds
  • Private funds

In-kind contributions may include:

  • Compensation for community members' time
  • Materials
  • Pro bono work provided to the project by third parties
  • Donations from private sponsors
Funding Notes:

A total of $148 million is available to support awards of at least $5 million through this program.

In addition to monetary awards, recipients will also receive technical assistance from the funding agency, including through the forthcoming Reconnecting Communities Institute (RCI) program, which will launch later in 2023.

Award recipients that do not receive the full amount of funds requested will receive an RCN Program Extra designation. Such applicants will be considered highly recommended if they apply to the funding agency's Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) or Multimodal Projects Discretionary Grant (MPDG) programs, and are deemed eligible, between FY 2024 and FY 2026. Refer to pages 7-8 of the NOFA file for details.

Generally, funds will be provided on a reimbursement basis. The funding agency will consider alternate payment methods on a case-by-case basis, when needed.

Funds will be available until expended. Funds must be obligated by September 30, 2026.

Funds may not be used for:

  • Pre-award costs, unless authorized in writing by the funding agency
  • Supporting or opposing union organizing

For FY 2023, 52 awards ranging from $1.94 million to $450 million were issued through this program. For FY 2022, six awards ranging from $5,354,695 to $55,597,500 were issued. Refer to the Award file for details.

Contacts:

Andrew Emanuele
andrew.emanuele@dot.gov

Tameka Macon-Ryan
tameka.maconryan@dot.gov

Program Staff
ReconnectingCommunities@dot.gov

Agency Address
U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, D.C. 20590

Contact Notes:

Questions should be directed to the program contacts provided. Answers to questions will be posted online at www.transportation.gov.

Applications must be submitted using the form that will become available online at usg.valideval.com.

The agency address provided is for reference purposes only.

Files:
Other Pre-Award File: US17225_Webinars_FY2023.pdf (104.7 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US17225_FAQ_FY2023.pdf (171.0 Kb)
NOFA File: US17225_NOFA_FY2023.pdf (635.2 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US17225_Amendment_FY2023.pdf (219.8 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US17225_WebinarPresentation_FY2023.zip (13.6 Mb)
Award File: US17225_Award_FY2023.pdf (958.4 Kb)
Federal Forms:
SF 424 (144.4 Kb)
SF 424C (1.7 Mb)
SF 424D (64.9 Kb)
File Notes:

The NOFA file contains the revised full solicitation for this program. The Webinars file contains information regarding optional webinars scheduled for this program. The FAQ file contains a list of answers to frequently asked questions regarding this program. The Amendment file contains information regarding revisions to the solicitation. The WebinarPresentation folder contains presentation slides for the webinars held for this program. The Award file contains information regarding previous award recipients. The required federal forms are attached. Additional program resources can be found online at www.transportation.gov.

April 15, 2024
Information regarding awards through this program has been released and appended to the Award file. A brief summary of the awards has been added to the Financial section, and a sample of award recipients has been added to the Eligibility section.

September 7, 2023
Recordings of the webinars held for this program have been released, and a link to the presentations is available in the Application section. Presentation slides for the webinars have also been released and attached as the WebinarPresentation folder.

August 30, 2023
A revised full solicitation for this program has been released and attached as the NOFA file. In addition, information regarding revisions to the solicitation has been released and attached as the Amendment file. The Eligibility section has been updated accordingly.

July 19, 2023
A list of answers to frequently asked questions regarding this program has been released and attached as the FAQ file.

Grant Keywords
DOT, OST, planning, Reconnecting Communities Pilot, RCP, Reconnecting Communities Pilot Discretionary Grant Program, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, BIL, impact, remove, removal, retrofit, retrofitting, mitigate, mitigation, mitigating, community connectivity, connectivity, connection, connect, replace, replacement, transportation, transit, transport, infrastructure, facility, facilities, barrier, mobility, mobile, access, accessibility, accessible, economic development, highway, street, road, parkway, railroad track, high speed, grade separation, design factor, neighborhood revitalization, redevelopment, refurbish, rehab, rehabilitate, rehabilitation, renewal, renovate, renovation, repair, restoration, restore, sustainable development, urban renewal, disabilities, disability accommodation, disabled individuals, maintain, maintenance, overpass, public transit, revitalization, USDOT, mobility disadvantaged, transit dependent, network, underpass, interchange, interstate, roadway, bridge, grade-separated, transit-oriented development, railroad crossing, train track, capital construction, construction, construct, fix, investment, rebuild, architectural improvement, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, IIJA, building, build, capital project, tribe, tribal, US17222, technical assistance, TA, equity, divided community, divided communities, STIP, TTIP, TAM, IRA, Inflation Reduction Act, community need, disadvantaged, economically disadvantaged, disadvantaged community, disadvantaged communities, advocacy, advocate, city planning, infrastructure development, municipal improvement, Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program, Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program
Grant Categories
Community Development
Human Services
Transportation