“Given the shared priorities between the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and the nation’s state departments of transportation (state DOTs), we are calling attention to detrimental project delivery impacts from a growing number of interruptions in federal approvals—including federal funding—that states are currently experiencing in USDOT-administered programs,” American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) President Garrett T. Eucalitto told USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy in a March 4 letter.
Eucalitto, who is also Commissioner of the Connecticut DOT, pointed out in the letter that “ensuring uninterrupted federal transportation funding provided to states and the associated federal approvals are fully aligned with [POTUS 47’s] infrastructure vision to build more, build faster, build better, and build more beautifully.“
Interruptions, he noted “—whether directly or indirectly related to funding—have the effect of freezing essential construction and planning activities including those involving roadway and bridge projects. Delays like these leave state DOTs at serious risk of losing the upcoming construction season for many projects. This will not only add to overall costs to the American people but also deprive communities from receiving those economic, safety, and quality of life benefits.”
Eucalitto also told Duffy, who was sworn in at the USDOT in January, that AASHTO “believe[s] all federal dollars committed to state DOTs through all formula programs and executed grants represent legally binding obligations.” Such programs, he said, are reimbursable—“state DOTs pay contractors for work they have completed and then seek reimbursement from USDOT”—and the association is asking that “reimbursement requests be paid immediately for construction and related costs already incurred, including projects that utilize and have received prior federal approval for advance construction (AC).”
The association specifically requested “an immediate resolution” of:
- “Environmental Review and Permitting. AASHTO fully agrees with the intent behind your X statement on February 21, 2025, ‘Slashed burdensome transportation regulations / Cut red tape to lower costs and improve efficiency.’ However, due to USDOT’s pause on signing environmental documents pertaining to NEPA, Section 4(f), Section 6(f), Section 106, and more, state DOTs are at risk of project schedules slipping and construction seasons missed; in my state of Connecticut alone, nearly $1 billion in federal funds supporting vital transportation projects are in limbo due to the pauses in approving environmental documents. Continued failure to advance standard environmental documents will result in missing the upcoming construction window altogether for many different types of investments, including critical Interstate Highway facilities. AASHTO has many ideas to speed up projects through a reform of environmental review and permitting; but in the meantime, USDOT needs to do all it can to provide clear guidance to state DOTs and avoid further delaying project development activities that represent our shared priorities.
- “Restoring State-requested Obligations and Reimbursements. As noted earlier, we believe all federal dollars committed to state DOTs through all formula programs and executed grants must be paid immediately. This includes restoring full access to the Federal Highway Administration’s Financial Management and Information Systems (FMIS) to allow processing of all obligation and reimbursement requests. We specifically call for the processing of all AC conversion and reimbursement requests, for which states have already committed state dollars and is creating growing cash flow issues.
- “National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program. As a formula program, the NEVI program dollars (exclusive of set-asides) are apportioned to states exactly in the same manner as core highway formula programs as determined under Title 23 Section 104. While we understand and appreciate the [POTUS 47] Administration’s articulation of its policy priorities, States have made awards and entered into contracts—multiyear contracts in some cases—with the private sector based on five years of NEVI formula funding apportioned under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Restoring the flow of NEVI funding will allow states to honor the commitments they have already made based on the formula funding authorized by Congress in the IIJA.”
Eucalitto concluded the letter by thanking the USDOT “for its recent reaffirmation after program review to handle processing of routine planning approvals—including Statewide Transportation Improvement Program amendments—by FHWA’s Division Offices, whose unique state-level presence has always symbolized the equally unique and enduring federal-state partnership for transportation programs since 1916.” AASHTO, he added, appreciates “the intent in FHWA’s February 6, 2025, letter to state DOT leaders regarding NEVI that said, ‘States will be held harmless for not implementing their existing plan.’” However, he said, “AASHTO’s request to USDOT is to build upon this notion of holding state DOTs harmless from undue financial risk associated with federally funded projects, and to support continued and stable federal transportation investment that unleashes the economic and quality of life benefits of critical transportation investments being made each day by our nation’s state DOTs.”
