Infrastructure Investment and Jobs ACT

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act  (IIJA)

The IIJA, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), is federal legislation that invests $1.2 trillion in America’s infrastructure.  It was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden in November 2021.  

Because it began as the reauthorization of the previous federal transportation legislation (the 2015 FAST Act), roughly half of the funding is for transportation.  The other half contains money for new and expanded investments in water, sewer, broadband, and environmental infrastructure.

Transportation IIJA Programs
Water and Sewer IIJA Programs
Environmental IIJA Programs
Broadband IIJA Programs

How to use this web resource

The IIJA contains hundreds of funding programs, many of them competitive grants.  Sorting through them can be a challenge.

The MCPC created this website as a tool to help our municipal partners quickly focus on the most relevant opportunities.  Click on one of the four categories to the left to find information on several competitive grant programs that best fit the needs of our communities.  

For the exhaustive list of all of the IIJA’s competitive and formula programs, visit the official IIJA website. Official-IIJA-Website-Button_IIJA
To visit a similar IIJA resource maintained by DVRPC, click here.

The federal government releases a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for every grant program, which contains details about eligibility, application period, and more.   If you are interested in applying for a funding opportunity, first review the NOFO.  
USDOT-List-of--NOFO-Button_IIJA

How does funding make its way to our communities?

The IIJA contains two types of funding – formula funding and competitive grant programs. Formula funding flows from the federal government to the states, who will either spend the money through state agencies or pass it on to each region for local decision-makers to choose how to use it. Competitive grants are programs run directly by federal agencies/bureaucracies, who accept applications nationwide and award the projects.

Many of the IIJA’s competitive grant programs place a strong emphasis on multi-modal transportation, on good planning before implementation, and on investment in urban and rural disadvantaged communities.